Part of buying a new home and moving is the excitement of placing your ideas against the palette of your new place. With that being said, choosing remodel projects with the intent of raising your resale value that takes up space or otherwise limits a new buyers imagination are some of the worst values possible.
We cover the best home upgrades that are worth the money which includes the concepts of preparing a home to get the most resale value possible. Getting the advice from a local realtor before engaging in expensive renovations is also an excellent idea as they will know about market preferences and what the buyers are looking for.
Maintenance Updates
Adding a new roof or brand new HVAC system before a listing is not likely to return the value you put into the upgrade. This isn’t to say that these preparatory items won’t help as selling points, but it is not likely to directly add the cost of the replacement to the list price you would like.
The exception here is if the existing appliances or structural components of the home are not working or damaged. If what you already have is working properly, then upgrading to the newest and best is likely to be a net loss on your sale price.
Inspections will reveal anything that needs to be repaired or replaced before you can sell, so if you already know it needs to be repaired, then do so. However, it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
High-End Upgrades to Your Kitchen or Bathroom
We are talking about luxury upgrades here. Reasonable kitchen upgrades can be one of the best returns on investment you can make before sale. Picking the most expensive finishes, commercial-grade appliances, and all the extra bells and whistles may help your look “pop” – but don’t expect to add the cost to your list price. A nice resource that can give you a feel for reasonable cost vs value expectations can be found on remodeling.hw.net linked here.
Bathroom remodels can bring even less of a return on investment. The idea of a walk-in rain shower with massage heads may look great on T.V. but may not fit a buyer’s desires. Leave the extensive remodel projects to the new buyer instead of picking an expensive personal vision with high materials costs that may not appeal to everyone.
Swimming Pools
Yes, even in Texas, swimming pools are not great investments in preparation for putting a property on the market. They may give great childhood dreams, but the details and extensive property changes needed can sink a lot of money that you will never see again. And what if the new buyer doesn’t want to deal with the upkeep or even desire that feature but loves the rest of the house? A lot of this is also subject to market pressures. It would be worth the time to speak with a local real estate agent that knows your neighborhood, knows how many other properties have pools, and if there are any plans for public pools in the near future.
If you have enough backyard space for a pool, consider wood decking instead. Nice wood decks are considered to be on the upper end of your return on investment pricing and are sure to be more affordable than a pool. Full backyard patios with a gas powered firepit? One of the worst.
Removing Features or Walls
Before tearing out structures like fireplaces or walls, think twice about how much the renovation would cost versus what you expect to add on to your list price. Often, these extensive structural changes are better just left in place and up to the new buyer if they wish to get rid of. At worst, you could even be removing a feature that a potential buyer really responds to. It is unlikely that you will be able to fully recover the amount of money sunk into demolishing and rebuilding an area despite how great it looks on all the remodeling shows.
Quirky or Personalized Decor
Your dream home theatre system with all the custom electronics built into the walls may be great for movies but could be looked at as a waste of perfectly good space by a new owner. The same can be said about picking colors and doing quirky design projects that change the interior and exterior of the home. Built-in Aquariums in a converted library? That is a pretty specific niche of the market to target and not likely to cover the cost of the project.
Make use of your local real estate professionals and do proper market research before picking anything that will cost more than $5,000 is good advice. Minor renovations can add comparably more value than extensive, expensive ones that do not cater to the widest audience possible.
