When planning home renovations I often get calls and emails from people asking what projects would help with future resale. Contacting a Real Estate professional when planning a home improvement project can be extremely helpful. Even if you are not selling now, we can help you make the best choices of where to invest in your renovation projects.
A mistake people often make is over improving a home. For example, a 2 bedroom ranch that receives a $50,000 kitchen remodel will not increase in overall value $50,000. However, taking a $400,000 Colonial with a kitchen that hasn’t been updated since the 1960’s and updating it with new cabinets and granite countertops could improve the value substantially. There’s a difference between home value and “salability”. A big part of salability value is based on the competition in the market. If another house with the same square footage, same number of bedrooms and same number of bathrooms has a better kitchen, you might need to update your kitchen to compete with available houses on the market.
Home improvement projects vary on the return on investment (ROI) so if you are planning to sell in the next few years keeping the top ROI projects in mind will be the most beneficial. If you are not planning on selling anytime soon and want your dream kitchen then the ROI might not matter to you. But if you are considering selling in the near future, a local Real Estate expert can help you plan the best use of your remodeling budget to gain value for your future sale.
According to an annual survey done by Renovation Magazine on cost vs value some of their top remodeling projects include new entry doors, minor kitchen remodels, garage door replacement and bathroom remodels. These all ranked in their top 20. My husband, Mark from Sterling Greenery will be pleased to know that backyard patios made the top 20 as well. They also said that “curb appeal” generates higher returns than interior projects in many cases.
So, if you are planning a remodel for the purposes of selling for top dollar in the next few years. Give me a call. I would be happy to give you some advice to help with your project.
Have a Real Estate question?
Feel free to email me any of your questions and I would be happy to answer them next month!