APRIL 2016
Y
our goals dictate what makes sense
You think you’re house is in need of an update because: 1. You’re tired of the same old thing and plan to remain in the house for years to come; 2. You plan to sell now or in a year or two, and figure doing some work on the place could mean bigger rewards once your home is on the market; 3. You’re planning to rent your place and believe the nicer it is, the more you will be able to receive. The first thing to consider when you’re pondering whether to make improvements to a home or condominium is who will be living in it. If you’re going to be the occupant for the foreseeable future, then fine. Do whatever you can afford if the goal is to make yourself happy. As for the other two possibilities listed above, the fact is you have no idea who the next occupants will be and therefore will not know anything about what might make them happy.
And because you don’t know what will make them happy, there’s a good chance the return on your investment won’t be what you think it should have been. Besides, there is no such thing and as getting all your money back from a home improvement project. The National Association of Realtors, citing its 2015 Home Remodeling Impact Report, has found that new vinyl siding is one of the better investments you can make, when
you’re preparing to sell your home. Even then, however, the report’s statistics show that you will probably get somewhere around 83 percent of your money back, assuming your siding was in reasonable shape in the first place. In other words, it if costs $12,000 to install new siding, it could add about $8,000 to your home’s value. On the other hand, if your house truly needs siding and you don’t take care of it, the NAR has found that bad siding can lead to a loss of 10 percent on your home’s total value. Look at it this way: If your house would normally be worth $200,000 but needs siding, you could lose $20,000 on your sale price. As for those things you want to avoid, that would be anything that might sound like a great idea, but would end up being money and time spent for no great reason. The thing to remember is most
buyers today are interested in homes that are “move-in-ready,” so if yours isn’t ... well, that’s a problem. Buyers generally look at ‘as-is’ properties that need work as a “thanks, but no thanks” proposition, unless they’re the extra handy HGTV types who plan to do much of their own work for the fun of it. That’s why most Realtors will advise clients to make strategic fixes if they’re looking for quicker and more profitable sales. Bear in mind, these are “fixes,” not renovations or overhauls. So what’s worth doing if you’re selling or planning to rent? Worth It: Addressing major maintenance and safety issues. Would you buy or rent a house with bad plumbing? Enough said. Not Worth It: Major bath renovations. Personal taste varies and there is a great risk that what you Continued on Page 2