Increasing Your Home Value

By adam
03/28/2011   Comments Off on Increasing Your Home Value

Four Profitable Home Updates Every Triangle Seller Should Consider

Historically, these updates and home improvements are proven winners when it comes to enhancing your properties’ value and adding the WOW factor buyers seek when searching for existing homes for sale in the Triangle. If you are thinking about selling your home, consider these home improvements as a must!

Minor Bathroom Remodel – Buyers Love Their Mini-Spa

Typical range of cost $10,000 – $11,500

Average resale value: $10, 727

Percentage of cost recovered 102.2 percent

 

Our experience has shown home sellers who spend money to remodel their bathroom are likely to see their investment come back to them when they sell. This is especially true if the improvement is focused on the master bath. Often older homes have smaller baths that are crowded. To create openness, a feature most buyers seek, you may consider replacing the tub with a glass-enclosed shower. For more WOW factor, be sure to also replace the toilet and sink at the same time. Numerous national home accessory stores like Restoration Hardware offer interesting glass or wooden shelves to update the bathroom’s appearance.

Replace The Siding – Is It Time For A Facelift?

Typical range of vinyl siding job cost: $6,000 – $8,000

Vinyl average resale value $6,914

Percentage of cost recovered: 95.5%

 

Typical range of fiber-cement siding job cost: $9,750 – $11,000

Fiber-cement average resale value: $10,771

Percentage of cost recovered: 103.6%

 

How do you feel when you purchase a new outfit? You probably feel good about yourself – right? Think of replacing your tired, worn siding like buying a new overcoat for the exterior of your home. For homeowners who have aged Masonite exterior siding, years of moisture and extreme summer heat can stress your siding causing it to rot and warp. HardiePlankTM siding is a fiber-cement siding product that has proven to be an excellent choice in our area. Its benefits include extended durability, excellent paint absorption and reduced need of frequent painting. Fiber-cement siding can also mimic stucco, wood siding or cedar shingles. It is fire resistant and numerous brands offer a 50-year guarantee for their product. For the do-it-yourselfer (DIY), it’s trickier to apply than vinyl siding requiring specialty diamond-tip blades for your saw and personal safety gear (a respirator) for yourself. Plus it is more expensive than vinyl. If you have spent any money on updates to the interior and failed to apply the same attention to the exterior, chances are it will detract from the overall value of your home.

Update The Hub of Your Home – The Kitchen

Kitchen Update/Remodel

Cost of midrange minor kitchen remodel: $14,913 (avg)

Average resale value: $14,691

Percentage of cost recovered: 98.5%

 

Provided your kitchen has a good flow and functions well, a minor remodel will pay good dividends at resale. Typical minor updates could include a cabinet reface with new doors and drawers (don’t forget the pulls too), replace tired appliances with new appliances, update your flooring with a durable – resilient flooring and replace your countertops with solid-surface (or even laminate) countertops. To complete the project, add a fresh coat of neutral wall paint. We have all heard of at least one nightmare remodel story but be careful not to penny-pinch producing a cheap looking kitchen.

Add A Bedroom – Grow Up, Not Out!

Attic Bedroom

Cost of range of an attic bedroom addition: $39,000 – $42,000

Average resale value: $36,649

Percentage of cost recovered: 93.5%

 

For many, an obvious option to grow your home is to turn your unfinished attic into an additional bedroom (and maybe even a small bath too). This is a great option in older inside the Beltline of Raleigh neighborhoods. Examples of Raleigh neighborhoods where this concept has proved to be popular include Hayes Barton and Whitaker Park neighborhoods near the Five Points area. These popular neighborhoods have a unique mix of both small bungalows and larger homes. In neighborhoods like these, it really pays off in hot housing markets where older, close-in neighborhoods offer homes with easy commutes to downtown Raleigh but smaller square footage. The payoff for remodeling the existing space in your attic is higher than the payback for adding new space outside the original footprint of your home. Adding on even a modestly priced master suite addition typically costs about twice as much as finishing an attic and the return (82.4%) is lower.