Investing in renovations prior to putting your home on the market is often needed to ensure a fast sale. You’ll want to get your house in the best possible functional shape, ensuring there are no glaring defects that will deter offers, and making cosmetic improvements will help your home appeal to the broadest group of buyers possible.
However, the decision to remodel a home you are selling can be a difficult one to make. You certainly don’t want to spend heavily, and risk the possibility of not recouping your investments, at the same time, you must make an effort to improve your home to a point where you and your realtor are comfortable that it will sell, sell quickly, and sell for a price that will make you feel good about your decisions.
At Budget Construction Company, we’ve been helping homeowners in Chicagoland wih remodeling projects for close to 50 years, and we know Follow our tips on renovating your home for a quick and profitable sale.
First Things First
Major functional issues with your home should be addressed as a priority, as issues of this nature tend to make buyers leary. Sure up your home by fixing cracks in foundations, moldy basements, leaky roofs, drafty windows, and any major electrical and plumbing issues that may exist. The home needs to be a sound and safe living environment, as many buyers come into the home buying process with expectations to make their own aesthetic improvements. However, major functional issues with a home often scare a buyer. If it’s needed, invest in the new roof before you remodel the kitchen, it will pay off more. If the roof is leaking, buyers won’t look beyond that. Same goes for mold. If your home has mold, fix the problem. Have the mold remediated, and resolve the root causes by fixing cracked foundations, leaky windows, and plumbing problems. In the end, if you home if functionally sound, buyers will be comfortable submitting an offer, and being that these repairs are necessities, as opposed to luxuries, the cost of such repairs can mostly be recouped in the sale price of your home.
Curb Appeal
In a study done by Remodeling Magazine (http://www.remodeling.hw.net/), new siding is one of the best investments you can make in your home, recouping 92.8 percent of its cost. The first thing a buyer sees when pulling up for a showing is the outside of the home. You want it to appeal to the eye, as buyers are constantly making judgments, and bad first impressions can be hard to overcome. If it’s a coat of paint that is needed, great, this is an inexpensive renovation that will do wonders to sell your home. Clean up the outside of the property as best as possible, invest minorly in landscaping, and fix up drives and walkways. Again, roofs and windows are great investments, improving both the function of the home, and curb appeal. According to Remodeling Magazine’s study, they also tend to pay off in terms of recouping your investment in a sale.
Kitchens and Bathrooms
Minor kitchen and bathroom repairs are great ways to improve the interior aesthetic of your home, and can be great investments in terms of improving the value of your home. Most realtors will tell you that kitchens and bathrooms are the most important rooms in the house, and can be great selling points. Spend your money wisely here, as it likely will not take a complete remodel to make your kitchen and bathrooms look great. Start inexpensively with countertops, sinks, fixtures, and appliances, and work your way up to more expensive repairs like flooring and cabinetry, only if absolutely needed.
Of course everything depends on what kind of budget you have to begin with. However, if you have do have money to invest, following the tips above will help you invest it wisely, to ensure you a quick sale, and the best possibility of recouping the dollars you spend. Contact Budget Construction Company directly with any questions, as Chicagoland’s home remodeling experts since 1976, we are happy to lend our experienced, helping hands to ensuring you make the best investments in your home.
