Remodeling a Home Before Selling
When you decide to sell your home, you have to ask yourself some very real questions about what you plan to do to your home to get it market ready. You may be asking yourself if your home Is it ready as is, or if you need to do some remodeling before you sell your home. Very rarely does the cost of renovation increase the value of the home enough to offset the remodel costs, energy and time. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t remodel. All it means is that you should really weigh the costs and benefits of remodeling a home or area of a home before you decide to list it for sale. Here are some of the pros and cons of remodeling your Orange County home before selling.
Pros and Cons of Remodeling a Home Before Selling
Pros
Increases Resale Value
As mentioned above, very rarely does the cost of renovation actually increase the value of the home to offset the costs of the renovation. But if you are going to remodel your home, there are certain areas that you should focus on that have higher returns on your investment. This is Orange County after all, and aesthetics are everything. Before you decide to install skylights in the master suite or demolish a wall to open up a room, remember that bathrooms and kitchens typically yield the largest returns when it comes to your investment and resale value. If you pair a renovation or upgrade with other fixes throughout the home, you may be able to list your home for a higher price than you originally thought. Decide whether you want to upgrade your kitchen or renovate it before you sell, and if you’re stuck, ask your realtor for their opinion before doing any major work. In the meantime, here are some statistics from the National Association of Realtors:
· A kitchen upgrade costs about $35,000 on average, while adding about $20,000 to the resale value of your home, putting the ROI for that project at 57 percent.
· A kitchen renovation costs about $65,000, while recouping $40,000 recovered, and ROI of 62 percent.
Sells a Home Faster
When a house looks good, it makes buyers feel good. They come into your home, and they see the opportunities. A newly remodeled home is a home that most buyers will be excited about. They will see that as something that they don’t have to worry about upon their arrival. If you decide to remodel your home, you could potentially inspire buyers to make offers on your home as soon as they see it, meaning that you wouldn’t have to worry about the ups and downs of wondering if your home is going to sell. Executing a successful remodel can help sell your home faster, and with less hiccups along the way like buyers asking for credits during the offer process.
Enjoy Your Home More
Now this one might not make sense, because if you’re selling your home, you aren’t going to stick around and enjoy the end result for very long. But there’s something to be said about actually spending some time in your home after you invest so much into it. Who knows, you may decide you want to stay there for a while longer just to enjoy it. Or you may decide it’s still time to sell. Whatever you decide, a remodel definitely won’t make you enjoy your home less.
Cons
Buyers Might Not Like Your Renovations
When you’re selling your home, of course you want to get top dollar for it. If you decide to remodel the kitchen and you splurge for high-end countertops, stainless steel appliances and new floors, it may be exactly what you think buyers want. But that’s the problem, that you THINK you know what buyers want. Just because you renovate the kitchen, doesn’t mean a buyer is going to pay a premium for the newly renovated property. They may want to get different countertops and floors and changing the whole look that you went and remodeled. That doesn’t mean don’t do the remodel, it just means that you should keep this in mind, in case things don’t pan out the way you plan.
DIY Remodels Could Make Things Worse
With so many YouTube videos out there on home improvement tasks and remodels, it’s no surprise that many people buy homes with the intention of flipping them for a profit. But if you’ve never installed bathroom tile, vanities or light fixtures, you may want to call in the professionals. It may seem like it’s not that big of a deal, but the last thing you want to do is spend your time and money self-renovating the bathroom, only to do it wrong. This can actually affect the value of your home negatively, so be cautious when it comes to DIY upgrades to your home.
Cheap Renovations Show
If a buyer enters a home for an open house and sees laminate floors, cheap light fixtures and vanities or cheap cabinets, there is a very real possibility that they’ll be disappointed. Not to mention if they still want to purchase the home, they’ll have to think about a budget in order to replace those things upon moving in. If you’re thinking about going the cheap route to try and increase the sale price of your home, use caution. Cheap work shows, and in places like Orange County and South Orange County where luxury is a standard, cheap renovations could increase the amount of time that your home stays on the market.
List Your Orange County Home Today
After you’ve decided if you’re going to spend money to remodel or if you’re going to leave your home as it, it’s time to get in touch with a local real estate agent. I have been helping clients sell their homes in Orange County for more than 18 years. I can help you price your home properly in order to sell it quickly heading into summer in Orange County. Contact me today to get started with the listing process.
Kathy Burns
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- 949.500.9714
- O:
- 949.249.6611