To Improve or Not To Improve

One of the biggest common misconceptions when it comes to your home is that all improvements will give you the value back and then some.

This is TOTALLY untrue.

I’ve met with homeowners that believe their home is worth $4,000 more than the others because they just replaced the air conditioner. No, your home is worth exactly as much as the others because it now has a working air conditioner. You’ve simply brought it up to par. Nobody would buy it at all when it wasn’t working and the only reason you replaced it is because it was broken or near broken.

It’s ridiculous to think I would get $6,000 more for my used car because the engine blew up and I spent $6,000 on a new one. No, now it’s worth the same as everyone else’s working car of similar specs.

If you spend $5,500 to put a beautiful deck on the back of your home, of course that increases the marketability and it increases the desirability. But that doesn’t mean you’ll get an additional $5,500 for the home. You won’t in most cases.

To be clear, you may get a little bit more money for the house, but you’ll also be getting your own enjoyment while you are living there.

I recently read a story about an owner that spent $13,000 for a privacy fence in his huge backyard and he was shocked to learn when he sold the next Summer that the home would be MUCH more desirable than the others, but he will only get an additional $5,000 for the home based on the beautiful fenced yard.

When you replace a roof or a hot water tank or any other mechanicals in a home, of course that’s an outstanding improvement. They would choose your home over those that have NOT done that improvement. But the fact is, you didn’t replace it to increase the value. You replaced it because the last one was bad, meaning the home was in ill repair. Yes, the buyers would choose yours, but they wouldn’t pay you dollar for dollar as to what you’ve invested.

On the flip side of that coin, most generally you’ll find that nearly ALL cosmetic or minor repairs will pay back huge dividends and may actually pay you back a multiple of what you’ve invested.

You already know that fresh paint and carpet goes a LONG way in creating more value within the home. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen one case where they didn’t get their investment back in terms of price and marketability.

The same is usually true for countertops, window repairs, punch-out items and many other minor issues. That’s why we often recommend a pre-market home inspection so you can knock out any minor issues to avoid scaring off the buyer when they have their inspections done.

Be sure you get with me on any improvements so that you can have a bit of professional advice before you pull the trigger on the project. There are two things to look at. One is resale value and the other is your own enjoyment of those items which is really your main goal to begin with, even if you won’t get your investment back. But remember, there are several things you can do to INCREASE the value and get a multiple of what you’ve invested in repairs or upgrades.