Home sellers are often looking for ways to increase the return on their investment. Selling your home is a time of change. You may be moving for a variety of reasons, but no matter who you are, selling your home for the best price is a key concern. This is the time when you as the home seller start to think about ways to increase the value of your home. Renovate or remodel? What’s the difference?Renovating your home is refinishing your home with newer, better looking materials while remodeling means you are changing the landscape of your home. A renovation could be as simple as changing the tiles in the bathroom or as grand as replacing every surface, cabinet, and appliance in the kitchen. Remodeling always requires changing the building, such as adding or expanding a room.Many people think that remodeling will add value to their home when they decide to sell it. This is rarely the case. Unless your home is in major disrepair, remodeling will cost almost twice as much as you’ll earn back during its sale. Much more cost-effective is renovating. Do these 5 renovations instead of any remodeling:
1. Repaint your home, inside and outside.
Change the color or just refresh what’s already there to give your home a facelift. Get creative with your colors and where you put them. Maybe have one wall in the room a separate color or have a color scheme for each room. Regardless of how you decide to do it, make sure you use the right type of paint for the surface. Ask someone at the local hardware store what paints are appropriate for the surfaces you have decided to paint.
2. Refloor the rooms that need it.
Maybe the tiles in your kitchen and bathroom still look wonderful but the carpet is starting to look worn. Putting in new flooring, whether you want to preserve the material you’re already using or change it to something that suits your needs better, it will refresh any home without the hassle of building or destroying anything.
3. Repurpose a room.
There’s usually a room in the house that’s being underused. Maybe it’s a garage or a guest room or even an attic. If it’s currently being used as your stuff room, or even better, it’s sitting empty, think about a different way you can use that room. Maybe you can move your musical instruments to the room and make it the music room. In the attic you could make it an art studio for yourself or the kids. Think about what space you want in your life to figure out how to make better use of the underutilized room. In the selling process, this will help buyers see it as a space to do something with rather than an extra room.
4. Modernize the kitchen.
Updating a kitchen is one of the best ways to increase the value of your home, within reason. Replace the sink fixtures, change the counter tops, repaint or replace cabinets, buy a new dishwasher and stove. There are plenty of small touches you can put on the kitchen to make it feel new and fresh. Buyers will be looking at this room so the more appealing it, the better. Beware of over modernizing. Look at the house and neighborhood. Make sure yo choose fixtures and changes that will work with the overall feel of the home and the cost of the neighborhood.
5. Modernize the bathroom.
Updating this room is the second of the best ways to increase the value of your home. There’s no need to add more bathrooms if the one or ones you have feel clean, modern, and inviting. Make sure there are either nice shower curtains or glass doors on the shower. You can replace the toilet and sink with nicer looking and more eco-friendly fixtures if you want to appeal to a more modern buyer.The key to making a wise decision for your home and your future real estate health is to plan carefully. Take an honest look at your finances and understand that you won’t be making very much of the money you put into your home back during its sale. If you have your heart set on remodeling to add another room or a deck or another story, make sure you’re doing it to enjoy your home more and not to increase its market value.It’s always a good idea to call a First Team real estate agent familiar with your area and ask questions about the remodeling and renovating you’re planning on doing. Find out if the changes you intend to make will increase the value of your home enough to make it worth it for you.
