SHOULD ONE REMODEL BEFORE SELLING?

One of the biggest questions sellers ask agents when selling their home is: should I remodel my home before I sell?

You may have heard a number of stories about people who were able to command top dollar for their properties because they remodeled them. Although remodeling can, in fact, yield a higher asking price for your home, you must be careful when spending money on remodeling projects, as you may not always see sufficient return on your investment.
Generally a remodel will pay off but don’t assume that you will recoup all of your expenses, or even that you will see any of your investment returned to you. An experienced agent will be able to guide you on this (stick with experienced agents such as the ones employed by Homeowners Concept).
Below are some common mistakes to avoid when remodeling your home for sale:

• Remodeling to suit your tastes – When remodeling, think like a buyer. In other words, you are remodeling to suit them, not yourself. Don’t remodel with taste-specific components; instead, keep it simple and neutral, thereby attracting the largest audience of buyers.
• Overpricing yourself out of the area – You must pay very close attention to the high end of prices for your neighborhood. You will not be able to get any more money for your house, regardless of what improvements you have made if you go over the price ceiling. Before remodeling, look closely at recently sold properties and the updates they had. This will provide you with a good gauge when deciding which remodeling projects to undertake and how much to spend.
• Emphasize kitchen or bathroom(s) remodel – Bottom line: the most important rooms of a home in today’s market are the bathrooms and the kitchen. These rooms have been shown to have the biggest influence on the price of a home; so, if you're on a budget, consider spending your remodeling dollars to update these rooms. They will yield higher returns on investment, provided you don’t go overboard in your remodeling efforts.