What We Do & Don't Recommend When Remodeling a Home to List & Sell
As a home stager, I was frequently asked by sellers if they would get a higher price for their property by renovating it first.
The answer, of course, depends on their ability to make that initial investment to begin with. Renovating is a costly endeavor and one you don’t want to do without a good cushion of cash to back you up. And with supply chain issues complicating things, it may take more time to complete than the homeowner is willing to wait for.
According to an article in This Old House, the average return on investment of a home renovation ran between 80-87% for a kitchen/bath remodel to a low of 51% for a home office. So depending on the scope of your project, you might want to consider waiting to apply those renovation funds to your next home.
Here are some tips to help you prepare your home for sale for the best ROI overall.
Tip #1: Take Care of Major Issues So Your Buyer Won't Have To
If your property has obvious, major flaws that a buyer would notice and a reno could fix, you should definitely go for it. When buyers detect a to-do list coming with the property, they are less likely to make an offer, or will expect lots of room for negotiation in price. They won’t want to spend that money any more than you do.
Tip #2: Resist the Temptation to Add On Livable Space
Because home appraisals take square footage into account, one might think adding more liveable square footage would be a great idea. Not so true.
Buyers are often willing to compromise on a smaller space if it has been upgraded and modernized. Clean finishes and appliances that are not going to become obsolete any time soon are more preferable than a larger space.
Tip #3: Update the Old, Worn Finishes that Date Your Home
Go for finishes and features that have a timeless appeal to give buyers a sense of permanence. Updating worn finishes with trendy ones can appear like a quick fix and cheapen the effect, while a timeless look is fresh, enduring, and appealing to the largest “audience” of buyers.
Tip #4: Get the Space Staged for MLS Photos & Showings
This may sound self-serving (I am no longer staging, by the way!), but the biggest bang for your marketing buck will be staging your home by a professional. A stager has the ability to view your home as a product, and knows how to enhance it’s best features.
Contrary to what you might think, staging is not decorating. Decorating someone’s home is for them to express their personality and lifestyle. Staging is meant to depersonalize and make the property as vanilla as possible while at the same time featuring its most significant selling points. So you will probably not like the way it has been staged, but be assured, it will definitely speak to your buyer.
Whatever you do, don’t put it on the market first and see if it will sell without staging, then take it off the market after it has sat there for a while with little interest hoping a stager can transform it. Your property will never be as enticing to buyers as it was on the first day it came on the market, and you will lose valuable time, momentum, and probably price points by letting it languish in realtor inventory.
