Here at Quarve Contracting we pride ourselves on offering home exterior improvements that not only will protect your home but will also add long-term value and save you money as the years go by. But did you know that there are things you can do to your home that actually affect its value in reverse or make it harder to sell?
Interested in Improving the Return on Investment for Home Improvements? Avoid These.
One of the things than can impact the resale value of your home is to improve it to the point that it's way out of line with the value of other homes in your neighborhood. Not only will your neighbors grumble the next time they get their tax bills, but you may find that when the time comes to see your home, you'll have difficulty finding a buyer. People looking for homes in a certain price range expect to find houses surrounded by those with similar values. A $500,000 home just won't fly in an area where most of the homes are worth about a fourth of that. Avoid these other mistakes as well if you're thinking in terms of home value relative to the cost of the improvement:- Overdoing it with the wallpaper. An accent wall or a papered powder room might be fine, but if wallpaper and not paint covers the majority of your walls, that's a definite drawback. A potential buyer will just see lots of work that needs to be done to get the decor they want. Wallpaper stripping is tedious, or costly if you pay someone else to do it. And if you do go with wallpaper, look for textured neutrals rather vividly-colored prints.
- Elaborate light fixtures. There was a time that those crystal chandeliers in every dining room and living room were popular. But unless you've got a McMansion, look for simple fixtures. Remember, whatever you install today is going to be out of fashion in 10 years.
- Wall and Ceiling Texture. Home buyers across America are spending money having those iconic 70s popcorn ceilings scraped off. Wall and ceiling texture is notoriously expensive to remove. So if texture is what you're looking for, find it in your decorations rather than your walls. Perhaps a wall-hung tapestry instead?
- Carpeting. This one may surprise you. Wall-to-wall carpeting was all the rage...decades ago. Today's home buyer is looking for wood floors. While genuine hardwood floors can add 2% or more to a home's value, carpeting is a real drawback. It shows age quickly, and unless you've got neutral colors, this is another area where a buyer's color preference may not match yours. Even laminate floors are preferable to carpeting. Choose large rugs instead.
- Dream kitchen or bathroom. With older homes, kitchens are often the first are to need renovation. But be careful about how much you upgrade. Investing in energy-efficient appliances is wise, and so is adding more lighting. Most kitchen renovations have a very negative return on investment. For example, a $60,000 kitchen makeover may only improve your home's value by $40,000. The same thing is true of a luxurious bathroom. Of course, if you've got dated 60s or 70s fixtures, it's time to replace them with modern water-saving neutrals, but resist the urge to turn your bathroom into a private spa.
- Combining bedrooms. It's a temptation when the last child leaves the home to combine two smaller bedrooms into a larger space. You may get a bigger room, but you've reduced the number of bedrooms your home has. Buyers with children are interested in how many bedrooms a home has, not their size.
- Adding a sunroom. We get that Minnesotans want to extend the feel of enjoying the outdoors as long as possible. But here's another instance where what you will spend will deliver far less in terms of value. This is a renovation that's even more costly than an overdone kitchen or bathroom. Expect only a 30-40% ROI. (There may be cases where there is an exception, such as enclosing an existing porch to create another bedroom. More bedrooms translate into higher value.)
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