Your home is the foundation of your life. It is your safety, comfort, place to enjoy the warmth of friends and family, and it represents one of the best ways to help secure prosperity for future generations. Therefore, it makes sense to invest in the value of your home, whether you intend to sell it or to keep it in the family.
For the purpose of this information, let's suppose you want to increase the equity in your home in terms of resale value. This will give us a solid metric to work with. Though resale value does not represent the full or true value of a home, it's a good place to start.
What Makes a Renovation Good for Resale?
To understand what renovation projects are best for selling a home, we should think like a potential home buyer. Imagine you approach the curb and see the exterior - that's your first impression. Next, you move toward the front door - another major impression. Third, you begin moving through the house imagining how you might live there — that's a series of significant impressions.
To obtain your asking price for your home, the key is to create memorable impressions like the striking of a bell. You want to focus on renovations that will resonate with the buyer, engage their imagination, and make them want to live there. So, let's take it from the buyer's perspective and start from the curb.
Best Renovations to do Before Selling
The following renovations are taken in part from real estate trends in Southern Florida, and Sarasota. These can change, but for the most part, they will tend to remain consistent. It is important to make these changes an early point of the buyer-walk-through tour, to influence those early impressions.
Build a Street-Visible Addition
If you want to build an additional room with the idea of accelerating the sale of your home, you've got to make it noticeable. A new room may not fit every potential buyer's needs, but if it doesn't show up in the real estate listing photo, it might as well not even be there.
Remodel the Kitchen
The kitchen may not add curb appeal, but it can be a real deal closer. People understand deeply that their most intangible memories often involve their kitchen in some way. Not only is the kitchen the stomach of the home but it is also the heart of the home. Many people will spend the most time there, so the more inviting and accommodating, the better. A beautiful kitchen will amaze potential buyers better than any other interior space, and that's a renovation you can bank on.
Renovate the Bathroom
Second only to the kitchen is the bathroom. Just as the kitchen speaks to the human heart, the bathroom speaks to our expectations of wellness, comfort, and convenience. The bathroom greets us at the start and the end of our day, which means people instinctively know their time there matters.
Enhance Living Spaces
Most of the way the living spaces of the home make an impact is how they are furnished. The addition of a bay window or other window enhancements could spruce up the area. Refreshing the flooring, walls and ceilings throughout the living area and bedrooms can really make a statement as well. Installing a custom entertainment center is becoming more and more common as at home entertainment systems grow in popularity.
Best Minor Renovations to Boost ROI
It's important to keep in mind the supreme importance of impressions. Just as a nice tie and lapel pin can improve a budget suit, some minor improvements will also make a strong impression.
New Front Door
It's a detail, for sure. But a front door has the benefit of primacy and is symbolic of the entire home. Add bold colors or an ornate design for great effect.
New Garage Door
The garage door takes up a massive amount of your home's visual profile. Adding a hardwood garage door is a smart move.
New Veneers
Veneers are by their nature superficial and will completely change the appearance of the home's exterior; therefore, creating a significant first impression to guests and potential buyers. That means a stone or marble veneer is well worth the ROI they will bring.
ROI Drains to Avoid
The one big caveat to these potential renovation ROI missteps is early visibility. If you can do these in a way that makes a big impression fast, they might not be mistakes. For example, a backyard patio is a mistake unless it's somehow highly visible from the outside. An outdoor pool and pagoda could make a marvelous impression if the driveway wraps around it and there's no privacy hedge. But typically, the following are not great resale boosters.
Sunroom
This niche add-on will limit the number of people willing to invest.
Master Bedroom Add-ons
Statistically speaking, this type of addition doesn't pan out in sales.
Bathroom Add-on
People tour homes based on bedroom/bathroom counts. Adding a bath will only switch your buyer demographic, not expand it.
Backyard Patio
Unless it's highly visible on approach, and you go big, this is not a reliable selling point.
That said, don't distract yourself from what is often most important about home remodeling: what will add value to you as a habitant of that home!
Get in touch with the renovation ROI experts at Gilbert Design Build today to learn more
