For REALTORS®, selling a house should be the start of a relationship with a client, not the end. As you keep in touch with buyers, providing expertise will enhance your standing. Owners want to improve their properties with any number of projects. But what’s appealing to some can be appalling to others. They should understand which ones will return the most value when selling, and which will not. Here are four of the best and worst.
Best: Kitchen remodel. The number one bang-for-buck project. It’s the first room most homebuyers will want to see. A bright and modern kitchen with expensive, like-new appliances will stimulate homebuyers. Dark, tired kitchens that clearly need upgrades can be depressing, which is the last emotion you want in a client’s home.
Best: Finished attic or basement. They may be valuable storage areas, but homebuyers want one thing above all else–livable square footage. Turning a top or bottom area into something like a potential bedroom, a home office or another gathering space is crucial for people with larger families
Best: Bathroom renovation. Second only to the kitchen for the rooms homebuyers want to see updated because everyone is in them every day. The last thing people want is that after buying a house they will need to undertake a major, expensive project. Bathroom remodels are significantly less expensive than ones for kitchens, but have the same solid ROI.
Best: Landscaping. If real estate’s first principle is location, location, location, then the second has to be curb appeal, curb appeal, curb appeal. Driving up to a for-sale house with immaculate grounds tells buyers that the inside is very likely as well maintained as the outside. So money spent for shrubs, plants, etc., always pays off.
Worst: Pools, sunrooms, home theaters and hot tubs. These are all things some people would love to have but many others would not. They’re either permanent or hard and expensive to change. Better to keep a property as attractive to the masses as possible, unless it won’t be sold for a long time.
