Honey Do….or Honey Don’t? The Truth About Home Renovation

If your home life is anything like mine, the phrase, "Honey, what do you think we should do…." comes up an awful lot in discussions about the house. Any time those words are muttered, I instantly pretend to be hard-of-hearing because I know the inevitable end of that conversation results in me on my hands and knees scraping, painting, cutting, laying tile, or some other "fun" home renovation.





I know I’m not alone in the above scenario, but as a real estate broker, it’s my job to be up to date on exactly which of those "honey-do’s" are going to provide the biggest return on my investment of both time and money. Before we go there though, I want everyone reading this to think about your motivations for renovating. All too often I hear clients that have waited or never done a renovation simply because they felt it was a poor investment. I’m here to tell you something folks…this is your home. You generally only get one of those at a time so you’d better enjoy the one you have. Unless you’re planning on selling in the very short term (less than 2 years in the future), then don’t decide on a renovation based on it’s perceived value to someone else. Do it because it will enhance your enjoyment of the house. Now, if you are one of those folks who do need to sell your property in a fairly short time-frame, then you’ll definitely want to read on.





One of the first things we all hear about real estate (aside from the tried and true "location, location, location" cliché) is that kitchens and bathrooms sell homes. Having viewed literally thousands of homes over the years, I can absolutely attest to the truth of this statement. Your home can be an absolute palace but if there is a dated kitchen or bath hiding around the corner, your sales ship is all but sunk before it even leaves the harbor. Yes, remodeling your kitchen and bath will increase the value of your home. That, however, does not mean the value will go up more than the cost of the renovation. Detailed research has shown that most high end kitchen remodels will bring back about 80% of their cost with baths checking in at 90%. Of course, you can do the labor yourself and change those numbers somewhat, but you get the point.





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