Spring is here and it is the buying and selling season in Florida for homes. Tourists are here, people are thinking of buying while they are here, and you have been thinking of selling.
School will be out soon and now might be the time people with kids are thinking of either buying in a new location or selling their current home and then relocating.
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If you have been in the same home for a while, it might need some sprucing up before you sell. Look around, does it need a new roof? Maybe the paint is an older color that isn’t very appealing, or there is old carpet in a couple of rooms that needs to be replaced.
Every home needs something.
This article is about the top 10 things you might need to pay attention to for a higher resale value, and 10 things that might not be worth doing to increase its value.
The number one spot has to be what you first see: The Curb Appeal!
Landscaping and overall looks of a home can either excite a potential buyer or turn them cold on seeing the inside.
Lets start with the landscape. Is there a good-looking lawn? What about hedges or trees, are they trimmed or pruned for the season?
Are there trees that are obstacles to the overall look?
Flower beds or yard plants should look as best they can be free of weeds and tanglements. If the landscape looks tired or even too busy, buyers may be turned off.
Number two on the list would have to be the front door itself.
If you have an older door, either wood or metal, if it looks like it might be at the end of its life or has dents and chips, consider replacing it with a newer more modern look.
Also, aside from the door itself, the walkway or area around the front door should be clear of possible cracks or obstacles. If there is a sidewalk that leads to the front door, or landing that is uneven, this will give a bad impression.
As we walk inside, the first thing many people will look for is the kitchen and its condition. This is number three on this list.
The Kitchen.
It doesn’t take much in some cases, a light remodel could be just what you need.
This could be things like new cabinet knobs and pulls, basic lighting upgrades, and decent if not newer appliances.
You might want to become a clean freak for a day to make the kitchen spotless, plus organizing the insides of the cabinets also. People do open them, but if the stove is greasy looking, or dirty, your buyer might get turned off real fast.
The better the kitchen looks the less a buyer will try to discount you.
Number four:
Bathroom(s)
If you have a main and master bathroom, or even more, right after the kitchen is what are looked at most. If you have an old, outdated bathroom, consider either remodeling it completely or to save some money a light rehab here also can help improve your resale value.
Lighting and vanity are the most important. The vanity itself may be in good condition so possibly look into replacing the sink and faucet. Don’t just stop there, if the shower or tub hardware is old and outdated, you might as well replace those also.
In the case of a shower, if you have glass doors on it and they are stained or rusted, replacing those can help your future resale bottom dollar.
Number 5 is a bit more cost but has a very high return value.
Its windows.
Old leaky windows not only look bad, but buyers will notice if you have replaced the originals with newer energy efficient windows.
Even while you have the home for sale the savings begin to return to you in the form of insurance discounts, sometimes you can use a window replacement for tax savings, and the overall look is much better. New windows that are double pane or even impact windows also reduce the amount of noise inside the house from outside.
This comes in handy if you are near a busy road when buyers are looking at your property.
Two more things that are not on this list, but that can help your home on resale value are a new garage door. This goes with the overall look of the house, but a broken or odd colored door isn’t appealing.
Carpet is not on this list, and many homes do still have carpeting, consider replacing it for resale, or removing it completely for the look of an engineered wood or laminate that blends in with the house.
It may not get you a top dollar return but as buyers shy away from carpet for the looks and that carpet holds dirt and smells, the return might be worth it.
Now for the waste of money, if you are looking to improve your home but don’t expect it to turn into dollars returned.
The first one would be a swimming pool addition. Not everyone wants a pool. With all the different designs and features we have today, someone looking to buy may feel the design and maintenance isn’t worth the price.
And the cost of a new pool can easily run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. People may also see it a a liability or safety concerns may come up if it is an older pool not up to today’s codes.
This second one is a popular trend that may not improve your resale value, Solar.
Becoming more popular, the initial cost can be staggering, and with many installs the cost factor may be as transferrable as the warranty, meaning your new buyer might not want to take over the existing loan.
Third on the list might be a converted garage space. That is if you have one. While it may have made perfect sense to convert it to another room while you were growing a family, it can seriously hurt resale value to someone that wants a garage and has to spend more money converting it back.
If the home has enough living space, that added square footage may hurt the bottom dollar.
Fourth would probably be overly personalized rooms that could be costly to return to their original. This could be anything from storage ideas that might have been useful to build at the time, or odd and trendy tiling work that went out of style 20 years ago.
The less cluttered the room looks the more a buyer can envision it into their own.
Bold colors can actually hurt also. Sometimes a room that has been painted a deep red color may not cover well when repainting. And if the room isn’t well lit it could begin to get kind of creepy for a buyer.
And the fifth on the list covers two things all at once. Wallpaper used extensively, and over-personalized areas. It was fine when you owned it, but things like too much wallpaper use may not appeal to a wide range of buyers.
This would include things like DIY projects that are either poorly done or are overbearing, which could lead to extensive professional costs to remake. If you intend to move in the next few years, consider these items in your next to-do list to avoid real problems with reselling later.
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