If you’re thinking about selling your home in a seller’s market, relax. Don’t worry about making sweeping home improvements.
But if you’re in a buyer’s or balanced market, you might consider making a home improvement or two to distinguish your home from the competition. Although updating your kitchen and bath will give you a great return on your investment (about 70 percent)—plus a better quality of life for you—the best way to add value to your home is to increase the livable square footage, according to bankrate.com. That means adding a bedroom or a bath, perhaps finishing the basement.
First impressions also matter. A garage door replacement, averaging around $4,302, can give you a surprisingly good return on investment (ROI) of 102.7 percent. According to HGTV, an entry door replacement, averaging around $2,355 can result in a whopping ROI of 188.33 percent when you go to sell. Put on a deck for around $14,596 and you could recoup 83 percent of that in resale.
Home improvements that may not pay off include an inground pool, taste-specific decorating in bold colors, new carpeting, or an extremely high-end kitchen.
“Know your buyer” is still good advice. Your two-bedroom townhouse might fit a single professional or a couple, while your four-bedroom with a two-car garage would be perfect for families. Not everyone is into gourmet fare, outdoor living, or a look that could be right at home in Architectural Digest. In previous real estate markets, we might have been advised to install that new carpeting as buyers did not want to move in and do work, but in a seller’s market, it’s more important to make the home affordable rather than trying to anticipate a buyer’s tastes.