3 Upgrades to Avoid When Selling Your Home
Hi, Kevin Yoder back again with Yoder Real Estate powered by eXp Realty. Are you a home seller and you want to get your home ready for sale this spring, and you want to know what to do to get it ready? Well, today in this video, I’m going to share with you the three things to not do. We’re typically given you the list of things to do. By the way, 3.5, that 0.5 will be a few things you’re going to want to pay attention to if you want the highest return. In this video, I will share with you what to avoid, what to not waste your money on when you’re getting your home ready for sale. Pay attention all the way to the end, because I’m going to give you these. These are tried and true to avoid, and that means you’re not going to spend thousands of dollars on things that don’t get a return on your valuable investment.
2nd or 3rd floor improvements
Number one, if you are thinking about remodeling your upstairs or your second or third floor before you sell your home, don’t waste the time or money. Instead, focus on your main floor. High-impact areas such as the kitchen come to mind. That is the best place that you can put your money, if you’re going to do a remodel before selling, we recommend doing a moderate upgrade in that area. If the timeline is less than one year, you’re not going to get the money out of it, if it’s any less time than that. Okay. And focus on the main floor, kitchen, living room, mostly the kitchen. Don’t go upstairs, while it’s nice, you’re probably going to enjoy it for a few months. That will not yield a return, not enough to make a difference at the closing table for you. Okay.
Crown molding or wainscoting
What else to avoid? Number two is adding crown molding and wainscoting and things of this nature. Now, while that might look nicer, it’s not going to look nice enough. It’s almost one of those subconscious improvements. No one’s going to say, “Oh wow, you did such a great job with the wainscoting. I’m going to give you a few extra thousand dollars.” It doesn’t work that way. Avoid that stuff. If you’re doing these upgrades to your home, those things do not matter nearly as much as some other things that I’m going to mention to you.
Now before you sell your home, it is advisable to focus on those low cost, high return items
Costly upgrades on old but still working items
The third one is costly upgrades. I’ve seen this time and again, in the last 20 years that I’ve been in real estate where a seller will notice that the roof, by the way, is a little bit older. Let’s say it’s got 20 years of life on it. And then they say that they’re going to invest in a new roof before they sell. Well, that roof could cost you $15 or $20,000. Remember a buyer is not willing to pay for an improvement that should have been done anyway. These are considered deferred maintenance items. So the rule of thumb is this, if it’s working and otherwise protecting the home in the way that it should, i.e the roof is not leaking, it doesn’t have any unusual buckling or misshapenness to it or anything like that. In other words, if I can drive up to your home and I cannot tell the roof has any damage to it, or as long as it’s not leaking, then you don’t need to replace the roof and let that also come out during inspections, by the way. If it is leaking and it has problems, then you probably should get it taken care of.
Same with a furnace. A buyer’s not going to pay you more money because you have a new furnace, common misconception. Don’t spend the five, six, $7,000 to replace your furnace and your HVAC system, because the buyer will not pay for that. It’s such a critical thing to know that. Same with your water heater. Unless all of these things, or one of these components has a major issue or an issue before you list it, you definitely want to get it taken care of. If that’s not the case, then don’t spend the money on it.
Bonus: Home improvements where you should spend your money
And finally, 3.5. This is what you should spend your money on:
- Paint
- Carpet
- Landscaping
- Flooring
- Kitchen appliances
These are the high impact areas. These are the low cost, high return, relatively speaking. If you want to get the most bang for your buck, this is where you want to spend your money, on paint on flooring, on carpet, on landscaping.
When someone drives up to the home, how does that look? That’s going to be their first impression and of course a lasting one. And finally, kitchen appliances, they go a long way and it’s relatively low cost compared to the other things you might spend money on. If you want to know more about the strategies to get your home sold for top dollar, yes, even in this market, some homes are selling for even more money than others. And we have those strategies for you at Yoder Real Estate. Feel free to reach out. We’re here to answer any of your questions, help you navigate through this crazy market. And you can find us online at yoderrealestate.com. Until next time, Kevin Yoder with Yoder Real Estate powered by Exp. Have an awesome spring season and we look forward to connecting with you real soon.
Asking yourself “what is the value of my home” in today’s market?
Check out our Free Online Home Price Estimation Tool.
Call me at (616) 942-2449 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation
