UNLESS YOU PLAN TO COMPLETELY RENOVATE YOUR HOME, CHANCES ARE YOU’LL ONLY BE MAKING PARTIAL UPGRADES BEFORE SELLING. WHICH ONES DO YOU CHOOSE? WHICH WILL ATTRACT A BUYER, INCREASE YOUR PROFIT, AND PAY FOR THEMSELVES VS. BEING AN UNNECESSARY WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY?
“The faster a home sells, the closer to your asking price it sells for; the slower it sells, the more the final offer drops”
This is the rule of real estate keep this in mind if you are planning to sell your property. Many upgrades may help your home sell faster, but not for more money than market value. With that in mind, here are some thoughts about what upgrades to skip and what to focus on instead:
KITCHEN
A kitchen upgrade might just be a waste of money. The exception is that if you have only one outdated element in the kitchen, and everything else looks fantastic, then consider upgrading that one element. For a dated kitchen, it is advisable to professionally clean the kitchen and appliances so everything smells great, upgrade is not necessary in this case. Remove old appliances altogether, and super-clean the empty spaces. Then paint all wall spaces in the kitchen that show. If you can afford it, add a new faucet to the sink and a new range hood, especially if your old one looks grease-caked. These things tell buyers that you have maintained the home, and people can imagine themselves cooking there while they fix it up to their tastes.
EXTERIOR PAINT
Like any other upgrade to your home, painting the entire exterior only matters in context of the whole. If your home is nicely updated everywhere except the exterior paint, then painting will matter. But if your roof is 40 years old and looks like it might leak in a dozen places, or if your windows are cracked, or your gutters are sagging, then painting may not make a difference. Strip and touch up badly peeling paint, fix popped siding, repair a cracked pane, tie up or cut dangling wires, clean or remove gutters, wash the dirt off your siding using your garden hose, etc. Make a list of everything you can reasonably do to the exterior, financially and physically, and then do what you can. Cleaning up the exterior might make more of a difference than painting it. A clean exterior won’t necessarily make it sell for a higher price, but it may make it sell faster. And as you know, a faster sale usually means a better price than a slower sale.
LANDSCAPING
Like the exterior paint, landscaping can be daunting if it’s been let go. If your home is in great shape, but your landscaping is awful, then it might make sense to upgrade and invest in re-sodding or planting a new flower garden and adding much. But if your landscaping is as dated as your house, then the best thing to do is tidy it up. Trim everything from the grass to the trees. Get rid of anything that’s obviously overgrown, like huge box hedges or ivy. Don’t worry about planting a beautiful garden. However, a splash of flowers in a flowerpot near the door will add a nice touch.
ROOF
If the home is in otherwise great shape, then having an upgrade or replacing the roof might be worthwhile. On the other hand, it might not matter. The market will tell you what to do. Have your agent do an analysis. In a hot market, you may be able to sell for top dollar without replacing the roof.
BATHROOM
Consider replacing old shower doors or resurfacing the tub for a fraction of the cost. Consider upgrading the light fixtures and faucets. They don’t have to be expensive, just new. Remember, you’re only trying to sell the home! While it may not make people rush to give you offers, a new toilet at least won’t push people away. Like the kitchen, clean, clean, clean your bathrooms.
POPCORN CEILING
If you have either asbestos or Styrofoam ceiling, only remove it if everything else in the home is lovely. An alternative to removal is to have the ceiling spray-painted white.
FLOORING
Should you upgrade or refinish the carpet, tile, or hardwoods? Like other upgrades, don’t do it unless that’s the only thing holding back the house. You won’t make your money back. If your hardwoods are seriously damaged, then carpeting over them might help your sale. Or if the only problem with our home is the hardwoods, then you’d want to refinish them. In most cases, with flooring, you’ll only make your money back in the sense that your home will sell faster, not necessarily for a higher price. But if everything looks equally dated in the home, then cleaning it is enough.
INTERIOR PAINT
Don’t bother repainting over colorful walls if your paint job already looks good. Ignore the advice to repaint in neutral colors. A tastefully done green kitchen looks fine, for instance. Or a cobalt blue. If you’ve chosen garish, primary, or dark colors for entire rooms, you’ll want to repaint those in lighter colors. A totally dark room tends to drive buyers away. Also, always repaint entire walls that look stained or dingy. In a hot market, sketchy painting might not matter as much, because people are willing to repaint if it means landing a good house. But in an average or slow market, it might turn people off.
Upgrades that you do are subjective. It is not always necessary. The right approach is to consider the whole house, the real estate market around you, your selling goals, and more.
A Realtor’s job is to walk sellers through each step of the selling process from listing to closing. Let me, Michele K be the one to help you sell your home for top dollar. Call me anytime at 562-243-2171.
