The Best Money-Making Home Renovations

A good strategy to increase your home's value is making choice renovations to your home prior to putting it up for sale in the market. But not every type of renovation is necessarily a good idea. Putting your time, effort, and money into the wrong kinds of renovations can hurt you more in the end, losing money once the home is sold.. If you'd like to know what the best money-making home renovations are, read on below:

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General Renovation Guidelines

Before you start hammering away on renovations at home, first take time to research your local housing market. Find out how much homes in your neighborhood or area are valued at. Keep this general figure in mind in order to avoid pricing yourself out of the market. It's a good idea to keep your renovations, modifications, improvements, and the like consistent with other properties in the vicinity, to avoid doing anything unnecessary.

Next, keep the colour scheme and overall decor for your home fairly neutral. Taste and preference are very subjective so it's better to appeal to a wider range of people by presenting an almost "blank canvas" to potential buyers. Leave it up to them and their imagination to fill in the rest. You want buyers to picture themselves living in their home, not yours.

Don't bother with adding extras like a swimming pool, unless you plan to use it often prior to selling. Think about how many buyers can be put off by the upkeep and even safety issues by having that swimming pool on the property. You won't be able to make back the money you invested on the pool if you scare off buyers by having one.

When performing renovations, be responsible and use environmentally-friendly materials like low-VOC (volatile organic compound) paint and energy-efficient appliances. Be sure to point this out to potential buyers, as it will especially appeal to those who are environmentally-conscious or those who prefer to live a green lifestyle, as well as those hoping to save on utility bills in the long run.

Renovating Your Kitchen

As one of the most prominent areas in your home, investing time and money into updating your kitchen is one of the most important ways to add value to your property. By making sure that your kitchen is well-organized, has plenty of storage and counter space, and features newer appliances like an updated stove, oven, refrigerator, or dishwasher, you're giving your kitchen a more contemporary feel. Having outdated appliances and fixtures won't impress anyone, let alone entice any buyers to consider your home. This leads them to worry about the cost of foreseeable repairs they'll encounter down the road when the kitchen finally gives in. A kitchen renovation done well is a good way to increase your property's overall value, and you can expect a good return on it. Home experts generally recommend spending around 10-15% of your home's value on updating your kitchen.

Remodeling Your Bathroom(s)

Like the kitchen, the bathroom has a very important and necessary fuction in the household. Overlooking the bathroom would be a big mistake as most people spend their time here several times a day, each day and can lead to a lot of wear-and-tear. Sellers can often recover the money they invest in bathroom renovations, depending of course on the extent and quality of the changes. Owners of homes with only one bathroom should consider adding a new one in order to appeal to buyers with families.

Even small changes in your bathroom can go a long way, like replacing fixtures such as the faucet or adding new wallpaper or a fresh coat of paint. If the toilet or shower needs to be replaced, consider choosing environmentally-sound low-flow models to appeal to buyers who are eco-friendly. Extra touches like installing a soaker tub or heated flooring can also be considered. Overall a bathroom should be presented in a way that makes it look clean, functional, and even tranquil—buyers will be willing to pay extra for it.

Updating Your Walls

A quick and easy (not to mention cost-effective) way to further your home's value is to re-paint your walls. Walls can easily wear down after only a few years so applying a fresh coat of paint will give it that clean, new look that your home deserves, even if things like window treatments or furniture are a bit older. Adding wallpaper is another option, though should be used sparingly as buyers often worry about the long-term difficulty in removing them. When in doubt, just stick with paint! Even if it's not exactly to your personal taste, neutral paint colours are always a safe bet. Not only do they brighten up rooms and hallways, making them feel more spacious, but they also leave more flexibility for the buyer moving in. You can expect to get most if not all of your money back when you choose to re-paint your home.

Redoing Your Floors

Carpeting has fallen by the wayside as a flooring choice over the decades and the majority of today's buyers prefer hardwood, laminate, tile, or other alternatives to flooring, with bamboo and cork quickly becoming more popular. These give a more contemporary feel and are a lot easier to clean and maintain in the long run.

Request a free home evaluation to find out how much your home is worth on today's market. Feel free to contact us online or call us at 780-800-9644 with any questions you may have about selling your Edmonton home.