Mary Shakeshaft

Thinking of Selling your Home?

Step 1: Get a Value Wizard report for your property:

Step 2: Do home improvements to increase value

There are two reasons for pursuing home improvement projects:

1. Just Want To Do It   You want some new features in a home to improve your family's quality of life, but you don't want to leave your current home.
   
   
2. Really Need To Do It   You want to make your home more marketable to maximize return (or minimize loss) and speed up the sale process.
   

In the right market conditions, a project might fit into both categories. Other times, though, the two approaches will conflict:

Just Want To Do It    In situation A, the project is a worthwhile improvement to your family's lifestyle. Say you have two or three teenagers in the family and the morning bathroom situation is completely out of control. It doesn't matter if an additional bath doesn't generate a 150 percent return on investment   The economic impact just doesn't matter.  If you have the money for a new bath and you don't want to move, you add the bath.  It improves your life's situation.  It's that simple.

 

Or say you're a barbecue fiend and you add a sprawling backyard patio with a natural-gas grill custom-built with flagstone and river rock.  Because you have a BBQ craze, return on investment just isn't going to be a critical question, rather the size and convenience of your addition is most important. The addition of a landscape nature will not be recouped in appraisal values.  The improvement is comparable to buying a depreciating asset you want for your lifestyle, such as a car.  

 

An even better example might be a pool. If you're a person who simply has to have one, fine!  Put in a pool.  Value in the The Colorado Springs area vs. California area is going to weigh differently.  It's worth checking with a real estate professional first, to ask about the pros and cons of adding the pool because in our area, it could actually even be a negative asset.

 

Really Need To Do It   In situation B, one pursuest the home improvement project to increase the property's salability or increases return on investment.   A good real estate agent can advise you of possible improvements attractive to today's potential buyers, increasing the home's value or decreasing time on market.

Projects such as: painting either because the existing paint is in bad shape or is an unusual color; replacing carpets because of age, color or style; repairing or resurfacing a cracked driveway or sidewalk; refacing kitchen cabinets and countertop replacement; and trimming or removing overgrown or unattractive landscaping can make a big difference on return on your investment or time on the market.

 While spending several thousand dollars on your home right before you sell it might not sound very appealing, it's not uncommon for the right work to more than pay for itself in a higher selling price and shorter marketing time.

As your local real estate professional, I would love to consult with you and talk about what improvements will make your home more marketable in comparison to similar properties that are now or recently have been on the market in your area.

 

 

Serving El Paso County Colorado, Colorado Springs, Black Forest, Briargate, Central Colorado Springs, Rockrimmon, Falcon, Northgate, Powers, Tri Lakes, Monument, Palmer Lake, Woodland Park, Security, Widefield, Fountain, Douglas County, Castle Rock, Larkspur.