I can’t keep arguing with my in laws about their reno. Am I being an idiot here?

My parents in law live in a really nice neighborhood in a LCOL/MCOL city. It is that old historic neighborhood with “charm”.

They bought the house in the 1970s, but they have NOT kept it up. A bit of a hoarders house, it hasn’t been deep cleaned since the Reagan administration I’m sure. The ceiling is literally caving in in one room, the house is full of cockroaches in the summer due to a foundation issue (now fixed, but the bugs stayed), covered in wallpaper that hides lead paint, and a HIDEOUS kitchen. Knob and tube wiring galore, and so many DIY “repairs” that I feel bad for the next owners.

To be honest, I would be surprised if anyone would ever live in this house after them.

But it’s on a great street.

They (both in their 80s), want to spend some money to rehab it and sell it. By rehab, I don’t mean a $150k guy job. I mean lipstick on a pig: a slightly modified kitchen with new countertops, cabinet faces, etc. like $20k for just small repairs.

The issue is this: I keep telling them they are about to WASTE their money. The person who buys it will either tear it down or gut it. They don’t care that the quartz countertops are sitting on 50 year old cabinets. They actually probably view that as a BAD thing because the price of the house will be slightly higher.

Yet they refuse to listen. They also believe that they can get a brand new kitchen for $20k (full guy), but I can keep having this argument with them.

Am I in the wrong here? Obviously I know that I’m right in saying they have no idea what things cost, but am I in the wrong by dissuading them for doing small, aesthetic repairs? I told them to get a full inspection done and see if the house is even worth salvaging.

I should mention this: why do I care? The worse off financially they are, the more the burden will fall on my spouse and I.