We have a townhouse that is in a nice area outside of DC. We want to put some work into it over the next couple of yeras. We know we want new countertops (ours are HORRIBLE), maybe pergo or hardwood on our main level, we'll paint before we move out. Light fixtures? What else?
So, what are the best fixes to improve value of our home without breaking the bank? Best investment for the cost?
Thanks in advance :) bathroom or kitchen or both kitchen and bathroom repairs The bathroom. If it is vinyl now, ceramic tile would make it more valuable, for example.
Sounds like the things you want to do are good ones. concentrate on the bathrooms and the kitchen. Those two things get houses sold quick (if they're nice) Well I know that I look at the neighborhood before I move into a house. What kind of neighborhood do you live in? You don't want a house that looks exactly like your buddy next door. Also look at the paint jobs, lawn work, and door hinges. Those are the main things that seem to be not very "pretty". Kitchens and bathrooms bring in the most money. Granite countertops, pergo floors and stainless appliances. Paint the interior a soft neutral color. Update the bathroom vanity and lights. bathrooms, kitchen, floor, light fixtures, paint.
floors go with wood, light fixtures go with brushed nickel, and then just prime and paint everything white, that way who ever buys it can paint it what ever color they want kitchen appliances, bathroom (toilet, sink, shower, tiles, walls), door frames, locks, window treatments, blinds The best places to spend money in the home as far as return on your investment goes is the kitchen and the bathrooms. Those are the two main selling points for many buyers. Also make sure you have good curb appeal to get people in the door. Fixing up the bathroom gives the most return for the buck. If you can do it yourself, you would save a lot of money on the labor. Maybe be able to fix up 2 bathrooms that way.
In the DC area, porches also add more value than they cost, but one would cost more than $5k. $5000.00 is not much money. You would just be putting junk in and then it would fall apart shortly afterwards. If you are doing this for resale do it as close to selling as possible as this cheap budget of yours will not buy a lasting product. Sorry. I don't mean to be mean. I used to work as a lighting consultant and I could blow right through your budget on t he lighting alone. Start with curb appeal. That might mean landscaping or window boxes or paint.
Ask a real estate agent to make suggestions.
There's a cable show where buyers are candidly taped making comments as they walk through. Sometimes it's clutter, sometimes you should try neutral paint colors.
Most of the improvements cost 100s, not 1000s. It sounds like you are tapped out already with the ideas that you have.
I would call a couple of real estate agents in and make it clear to them that you are not interested in listing yet but what do they think you need to do to the home to get the best possible price for your townhouse. This will be a good opportunity to screen the realtors for the future and give you a good idea what needs to be done. Go for the kitchen and outside apperal. And if you have extra cash fix up new paint and living room. you could add some texture to the bathrooms and make them more luxurious, do some modifications in the backyard like placing a cluste of flowes in both corners with a stone or marble barrier, change curtain (remove the old pulling down curtains) and adding more modern designed curtains.
Other than that you could do a couple of tricks with your house on open house such as renting good furniture and making every single room look tidy and functional ( Not having your dining table on the opposite side of the world) update the bathroom and kitchen. put in all new fixtures in both, make sure they match. cabinetry in the whole house should also match for a cohesive look. hardwood floors and updated fixtures are a must as well. i don't think you'll be able to do a whole lot with that budget. get lots of quotes before you start and be realistic Landscaping can really add to kerb appeal and can be cost effective if you are able to do some of the work yourself. In a townhouse, however, you may be limited to the landscaping you can perform - especially if you're subject to annoying conformity restrictions.
Light fixtures and doors can really add to the interior appeal as can decent switchplates/outlet plates, doorknobs, drawerknobs, hinges, and vent covers.
The kitchen is key as are bathrooms - new tiles and faucets can really add appeal. I would suggest moldings and baseboards be freshly painted (if needed); again, these are things you may be able to do yourself saving expensive labour costs.
Make sure your windows and walkways/patios are clean (a power washer helps).
Lastly, when showing the place, make sure it smells nice (not like paint or food) - fresh lillies really help. hey Lauren, the best things you can do is to renovate your kitchen and bath. Kitchen: new counter tops, and cabinets to increase space if not able to then paint and change handle on cabinets and draws to match every thing else, update appliances. In your bath other than painting, if you can change the vanity and sink, toilet and maybe tiles in shower and floors, but both of these are costly, but if you do it your self you can save some of the cost. you can try looking in to purgula flooring, wood is nice, try the bambo look, it is awsome. when the time comes to sell clean every thing take out things that you don't and put nice matching curtains face towels decorative items in both space so it looks elegant and spacious.
Good luck.... You should not expect to fully recover the amount of the remodeling investment right away. Typically you can expect between 80% and 90% back on your home improvement investment dollar, sometimes more, sometimes less, within the first year or two. With the proper remodel, you can increase and even make money on the improvement the longer you stay in the home. As with many investments it鈥檚 the quiet power of compounding that creates good returns. By being in the home a longer period of time, you give the real estate market time to increase and you leverage the remodeling investment as property values grow.
At a personal level, you should consider three things when deciding if a home improvement project is a good investment or not: How your project impacts your home's appraised value; How long you plan to be in the home; How strong the resale market is in your area.
Home Maintenance and Repair Projects
Home maintenance and repair projects are projects that must be done to maintain the integrity of your home. They include areas like roofing, exterior painting, window upgrades, furnace upgrade, electrical amperage capacity (at least 100 Amp). You have to do these home maintenance and repair projects first.
Why? Because buyers expect a home with solid structure and systems, then they look for the cosmetic home improvements. Also, most home purchases now involve an independent home inspector who will be looking critically and objectively at your home's condition. Doing a kitchen remodel home improvement project when your roof is leaking is like getting a face lift when you need heart bypass surgery. One is critical and one is not. If you don't have the structure and building systems in shape, then expect to have the Buyer create their own value for it and have that deducted from their offer price, if you get an offer at all
Roof and Flashing: Make sure the roof does not leak. If leakage is occurring have it fixed immediately. It's probably a result of flashing failure. Check flashing around the chimney, walls, etc. Make sure broken shingles are replaced. Check to make sure tree branches and leaves are not touching the roof
Chimney: Make sure the bricks are not loose or missing mortar. If they are, have the bricks tuckpointed to prevent water leakage and structural failure. Check that the roof flashing around the chimney is in good shape and does not have any gaps or openings for water to penetrate
Gutters and Downspouts: Make sure these are clean and flowing well. If they are clogged, clean and flush the gutters and downspouts. Clogged gutters are the source of many problems such as paint failure, leaks, wood rot, sagging gutters. Improper downspout outlets are also a problem that can cause water in the basement and cracked foundation walls. Make sure the downspout outlet drains AWAY from the house on soil that is sloping away from the house. If downspouts are allowed to drain into the house or into crocks that run to the basement or foundation, water problems can occur including ground settlement resulting in cracking of the basement wall.
Brick Wall: Make sure that the brick wall is solid and in good repair. Replace damaged brick including cracked brick and tuckpoint any missing mortar joints.
Foundation: Repair any cracks in the foundation wall. If you see cracks check that the downspouts are not draining into the house foundation and footings. Downspouts and the yard should drain away from the house. If the basement wall cracks are severe, you may need structural repairs including foundation underpinning. This is serious and you need to consult an expert foundation repair contractor.
Plumbing Fixtures: Check that the plumbing fixtures are in good working order. Identify the type of faucets you have and replace any leaking washers or cartridges if the faucet leaks. Check the drainage of toilets and sinks and unclog as necessary.
Electrical System: If you have only 60 Amp service this will need to upgrade your electrical service panel to 100 Amps. Make sure all switches work and all outlets are properly grounded (if your home has 3-prong outlets)and that GFCI outlets are installed as per code in the Kitchen and Bathrooms. If you have 2-prong ungrounded outlets in your Kitchen or Bathrooms, upgrade to GFCI outlets in these areas.
Furnace: Make sure the furnace has clean air filters and is in good working order by performing a seasonal furnace checkup.
These are just some of the major home repair and maintenance areas and there are many others, but you get the idea. Take a look at your home from a critical buyers perspective and see what basic home repair you need to do before venturing onto cosmetic home improvement upgrades.
2. Curb Appeal Home Remodeling Projects
Curb appeal home improvement projects are projects outside or inside the home that are typically lower cost, create emotional appeal and high ROI including other benefits such as being able to sell the house quicker than other homes. This is a big factor when the market is slow in your area.
With curb appeal projects you need to think like a real estate investor. When an investor buys a property and "improves" it for a quick turnaround sale, that's called "Flipping" a property. That's how you need to think with these types of projects. Low cost outlay, high return on investment back.
Unlike Home Repair and Maintenance projects, here you'll focus on the superficial and the emotional. And once your home is in structurally and mechanically sound condition, this is fine.
There are many things you can do to improve curb appeal that yield high ROI and faster sales. These include:
Green Healthy lawn: Edge your lawn. If your lawn is dead or just looks weed infested and lifeless and you're selling soon, it may be worth the money to have new sod laid down. The positive visual impact of a lush green lawn that has been freshly edged is significant.
Nice Landscaping: A pop of color goes a long way from the curb. Planting some colorful annuals and ground-cover around trees looks great. If your home has no foundation plantings, try to add something at the front of the house. A home with no landscaping looks uninviting.
Fresh paint: A freshly painted front door is inviting. A freshly painted house, more inviting. Inside the home, try to repaint any rooms that are dingy or in visible need of painting. Freshly painted clean walls and trim make a house look very sharp and clean.
Clean Windows: Make them shine. Dirty windows in springtime (or anytime for that matter) make a home look unkempt.
De-cluttering the Home: This is a huge impact for no money at all. Look with a critical eye at all the rooms in your home for clutter. Remove all items causing the clutter and throw them out or at least get them into storage and out of site. A de-cluttered space looks roomy and inviting.
Cosmetic Upgrades to Key Spaces Such as Kitchen and Baths: This means a possible new plastic laminate counter top, new cabinet hardware, new cabinet door faces, new $400 range if the old one is grungy. Bathrooms should have new modern lighting, new toilet seats, new (they can be inexpensive) faucets if the old ones are older compression type. Again the idea is to make these key spaces especially, look bright and clean.
3. Neighborhood Norm Home Remodeling Projects
Neighborhood norm home improvement projects are projects that the neighborhood determines as a normal standard or 鈥渘orm鈥? These include projects that Buyers will expect as a required feature for the home to have, and without, will reduce value or extend the time of sale in the market.
What would be a neighborhood norm project? Well, for example if your neighborhood is mostly 3 Bedroom, 1陆 Bath homes and you have a 3 Bedroom, 1 bath home, finding a way to add that 陆 bath will more than pay for itself. Or if all the homes in your neighborhood have at least 3 Bedrooms and you have only 2, that hurts you. Adding another bedroom will yield a high ROI.
Same for quality of finishes in the home. A high end kitchen remodel might be expected in one neighborhood and a waste of money in another.
And don't think you have to spend a lot. A more modest kitchen remodel such as plastic laminate counters versus granite might yield better ROI where high end is not expected.
4. Appraisal Booster Home Remodeling Projects
Ahhh, appraisals. The bottom line is that banks and real estate transactions all use appraisers. And appraisers use what are called 鈥渃omps鈥?or comparables. Those are similar homes in the area that sold for a certain price and then that is used to determine the market value of your home. Appraisers have certain things they look for as key determinants of value. For example, the location of the real estate (location, location, location!), the livable SF of a home, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, if it has a fireplace, what the home is constructed out of, etc.
What don't they care about? Well, they don鈥檛 care what color your living room is or what brand of kitchen appliance you have. What you want to focus on with appraisal booster projects are high ROI projects that improve the appraisal value and comps such as major remodels or renovation projects like Bath and Bedroom additions.
Typically these will include projects that will increase livable area or core appraisal metrics such as numbers of bedrooms and bathrooms. The reason Basement remodeling does not historically provide a good return is that although you can use the area, it typically does not count as additional living area from an appraisal standpoint.
CAUTION: This does not mean to over-improve. Adding a 5th bedroom in a neighborhood of 3 Bedroom homes will not provide any significant return. Appraisal booster projects need to be done in the context of neighnorhood norms.
5. Lifestyle Home Improvement Projects
Lifestyle Projects are single purpose remodeling projects important to the homeowner, but not to the real estate market and include projects that may be characterized as 鈥済ilding the lilly鈥?and overbuilding. These fare the worst from an ROI standpoint and some projects may even be considered a liability to a prospective buyer.
For example, let鈥檚 say your daughter is a competitive swimmer and you build an indoor training pool. No one is really going to care about that yet it cost a lot of money. The next owner may actually tear it out. Some projects like this are done because they are important to the home owner only. You need to understand that with these types of projects you won鈥檛 be recouping much if any return on it.
When it comes to determining how luxurious a project should be, again be careful the project is not overbuilt.
Doing much beyond the neighborhood norm ventures into a Lifestyle Project and will limit your return on investment (ROI). For example, although a Kitchen remodel is an excellent project yielding high returns, if you have granite counters in a neighborhood market that does not support that quality of material, you won鈥檛 get the additional value, and that would be considered too luxurious. However, if your neighborhood has all kitchens with granite or similar counter tops, then that鈥檚 not considered luxurious and would be appropriate
Classic examples of Lifestyle projects include:
Swimming Pool in temperate to cooler climates
Home Theater
Wine Cellar
Safe Room
Sauna cheapest countertop, nutural colors, your flooring, bathroom updates, if you need them. paint w/antique white if you have to paint it, and improve the outside, including plantings, paint if needed and anything else outside that needs to be updated. Kitchen and ceiling fans in all the rooms. That's what sold our home in Florida. Sorry to tell you but putting in 5K into pergo, countertops and light fixtures will not increase the value of your home. It will make it easier to sell. What will set the price of your home will be the other homes around you and their sales price. You home must be at least in average condition. It sound like you will need to make the improvements to bring it to average condition. There is no place on a appraisal report to give value to light fixtures, countertops, ect. They are just noted in the report. Appraisal is base on conditon, age and effective age, then compaired to similar sf and similar comparables. You could put 50K into kitchen and baths and never get a dime back unless that was the norm for your market and all the other comparables had done the same. Hope this helps |
