Decisions, Decisions...
You’ve finally decided, it’s time to move onward and place your home up for sale. Where do you begin? I’m often approached by clients at this stage in the decision process. They ask me if they should remodel kitchens or bathrooms before listing. My response always varies and is dependent on a number of factors. Sometimes home renovation can be worth the investment; but often the biggest addition to home value is achieved through proactive maintenance measures and relatively inexpensive updates.
Are Kitchen and Bathrooms Worth the Cost to Renovate?
This question is completely relative to where your home is located, recent sales within the market, the buyer type you’re targeting, and your level of patience.
The commonly quoted return on investment for kitchens and bathrooms is around 70%. I would never recommend spending $25,000 to renovate a bathroom for an increase in sales price of $17,500. Despite this, if your bathroom is stuck in 1955 with pink and black tile, there’s other ways of increasing the value and aesthetic appeal without replacing fixtures and demolishing otherwise sound tiled walls. For a less substantial cost, you could have the tile professionally coated with a durable epoxy paint in a neutral color that would appeal to a larger amount of buyers. Fixtures like faucets, towel bars and hooks can be replaced for minimal cost. Cast iron tubs can be given a second life through the simple process of refinishing. In these cases, I would only recommend significant investing to address issues like rotting subflooring, the professional removal of any mold, plumbing and electrical issues, or repairing compromised floor joists. These issues could put the safety of others at risk and could potentially delay or restrict the buyers able to make offers on your house. Which brings me to the next section...
Good Bones
If there’s one thing that I’ve noticed over the years is that quality never goes out of style. When your home has the basics covered; almost anything else is possible over time for a motivated and handy buyer. If your floor joists are solid, you don’t have squeaky sub flooring, your roof is properly installed, proper permits were pulled for any improvements, and your foundation is sound; the sky can be the limit!
As part of any pre-purchase home inspection, a licensed inspector hired by the buyer can take a look at the overall condition of a house and highlight costly issues. As a seller, I highly recommend you properly address any known problems that could impede your sale (prior to placing it on the market). In the event you fail to do this, full disclosure needs to be provided to perspective buyers. Common problems that arise in New England homes include moisture/condensation, improper drainage, damaged or defective foundations, outdated electrical wiring (the dreaded knob and tube), plumbing containing lead or galvanized steel piping, and septic systems failing the requisite title 5 inspection in Massachusetts. Each era of home construction has unique construction methods and materials which can lead to problems for homeowners.
Confusing Appearances with Functionality
My first house had a kitchen with built-in pine cabinets, an original stove from when it was built in 1955, and the forced hot water oil furnace original to the home. None of it was pretty, but that house still passed the VA home loan inspection and I was able to close my purchase without issues. The fact that a home may be outdated doesn’t mean that you have the responsibility to fix it up as a seller; however it should be taken into consideration when reviewing offers. In order for you to have an informed listing price, a skilled agent looks at comparable sales in the area and finds houses with similar characteristics to make the best recommendation possible.
Cleaning, Depersonalizing, and Decluttering
This step is perhaps the most important factor in achieving increased home sale prices. When a perspective buyer tours your home, they need to be able to visualize themselves living there. While it’s a wonderful thing to have a lifetime of memories on display, it’s not wonderful to make buyers feel like they’re intruding in someone’s life during their first impression. Avoid this problem by minimizing the amount of personalized photos. Do not leave urns of your departed family members on display!
In addition to removing photos of family, I also recommend cutting the clutter before taking listing photographs or holding open houses. Removing unique or large pieces of furniture helps buyers to recognize the actual amount of space a home offers. Too much furniture means less room on the floor and often makes a home feel smaller than it really is. My recommendation would be to use a removable storage container through one of the popular storage companies to avoid moving property more than necessary. These companies include storage and delivery of the full container for a very reasonable fee, minimizing moving stress.
Finally, you can never go wrong selling a clean house. Having cobwebs or dust bunnies in your home immediately conveys an attitude of indifference to home condition. When a buyer looks at a prospective home, you want them to perceive it as being taken care of. Even houses with severely outdated design features can benefit significantly from a deep clean both inside and out.
Let Me Help!
It’s tons of work to sell a house for the highest possible return. It may look easy, but alot of consideration and research goes into everything from appropriate staging to determining a reasonable sale price and sale description. Laws pertaining to protected classes of individuals within housing also need to be followed. By working with a licensed and insured Realtor, you’re positioning yourself for a successful and less-stressful sale. If you would like to discuss what I can do for you, please feel free to contact me for a no-pressure presentation today.