Improve or Not to Improve, that's THE Question!

A very common question that goes though most home owner's mind is (specially when they want to sell their home or when they plan to sell it within next 2/3 years) - Should we improve the home or not and what improvements should we make, if any?

Here are some answers. While they may not apply to every individual's needs, they will give you some guidelines.

1) Make improvements that will make your home attractive to masses. Adding a 2nd bathroom to a 5 bedroom home is a good improvement. Adding a 5th bath to a 5 bedroom home is worthless. And when can that change? If the whole home is falling apart, the 2nd bath won't do much as the buyer may want to knock down the home; the 5th bath may be OK to add as the 5th bedroom is on the first floor and there is no full bath on that floor. See how things can change based on your circumstances and conditions and that is why not all suggestions will apply to all. Base your decisions on your circumstances, not of others.

2) Be neutral. While colors may be in fashion, which color will the real buyer like, one does not know. The most costliest of paint won't do much if they don't like the color. I remember being in a home where the sellers had replaced their carpeting with the most expensive carpet throughout their home. And they wanted to get extra money for that improvement. Problem? - the carpet was dark blue throughout and every buyer who saw it, wanted to actually reduce the price so that they can replace the carpeting.

3) Avoid extravagant landscaping. While nice landscaping will definitely be attractive and help with the sale, it will most likely not give you a positive return on your investment.

4) Common things such as showing it neat and clean, no clutter, bright and open, etc are things that cost little but help sell fast at higher price.


All this said, if you are making the improvements for your own enjoyment and do not care for the return, by all means make them to enjoy your home. Any suggestions that are made are only when it is purely about the value you create when selling.


Want to know what you should do in your home? Just ask and we will do our best to help.


Sanjeev Aneja
Sanjeev@ontrackrealty.com
732.494.2211