Renovations for Resale Value- 2 question to ask and 5 tips to maximize your return
/When my husband and I decided to renovate the kitchen in our first home, we immediately started researching custom cabinets, marble countertops, and luxury appliances. Then we looked at all the line items and said, ‘we are never going to see the return on this if we sell this house.’
We knew our townhouse was a 5 year home, max. We knew that we’d likely sell it to another owner who was looking for a starter home or more affordable home option in our area. That meant we needed to keep 2 things in consideration when we renovated. First, we needed to choose finishes that would translate well to a buyer. We wanted a statement, but we knew anything too specific might turn buyers off. Second, we needed to maximize our return.
Two questions to ask yourself before any project: How long am I planning to stay in this house? Will these changes appeal to the next buyer of this home?
If you think selling is anywhere in your near future, here are my tips to help you maximize the return
Keep a functional layout. If you can resurface or paint cabinets vs replacing, you will save yourself thousands of dollars. Retrofitting functional cabinet inserts, adding new hardware, and painting cabinets is a great way to refresh a room for minimal expense.
Use widely appealing finishes. Updating a dated countertop to a clean quartz will always hold value in a buyer’s eyes. In our case, we replaced dated, TILED granite countertops for a marble-look white quartz. Not only did this modernize the space, it bounced so much more light into the room.
Choose the good appliances, and shop open box- we went with KitchenAid appliances in our house, and were able to find our fridge and dishwasher as open box items, which saved us about 40% off retail on both. This took some legwork, but was well worth it in the end. We checked websites daily, and knew exactly which models we were looking for when they popped up. On both items, they were open box with no visible damage to front facing panels.
If you want to make a statement, choose 1 area. If you love a bold tile pattern, keep the color neutral. If you love a bold color, keep the pattern simple. Adding too many layers can quickly make your house too specific for homebuyers. We opted for a bold backsplash, but kept the rest of our kitchen very clean.
If you’re looking for ROI- focus on kitchens and baths. My biggest regret was that we didn’t update the primary bath before we sold our townhouse- specifically that we didn't update it for our enjoyment! If I could do it all over, I would have tackled these projects when we purchased the house instead of waiting.
Loving where you live is so important, and great updates don’t have to cost a ton! These 5 tips can help you save money, and enjoy your space until you’re ready for your next phase of homeownership.
