Classic Ridgefield House during the fall

If you’re thinking of selling your Ridgefield house, you might be considering remodeling projects that will increase both its value and its curb appeal. It’s a great idea, but it’s important to understand upfront that the kinds of remodeling projects you choose has a larger effect than how much money you spend on them.

Keep Your Eye On The Prize

It’s human nature to use the information that’s right in front of your eyes and disregard facts that aren’t. However, out of sight, out of mind thinking can cost you big if you spend money on remodeling your Ridgefield house without an eye towards the invisible person in the room: The potential buyer.

If a homeowner splurges on a $50,000 kitchen remodeling project, they have the bill for the work right in front of them. Most can tell you to the penny what every carefully chosen finish, fixture, and appliance cost. That leads to the assumption that if it cost $50,000. it’s worth $50,000 in additional equity in the home. For almost any remodeling project you could undertake for Ridgefield real estate, that’s not the case. It’s important to know what the return on your investment in remodeling will be before you splurge on elegant and expensive renovations.

The largest mistake you can make when remodeling your Ridgefield home for sale, is lavishing money and attention on flashy remodeling and redecorations before you address any problems or shortcomings in the basic structure and systems of the house. According to figures compiled by Remodeling Magazine, homeowners will be much less likely to get back an investment in major kitchen remodeling or a bathroom remodel than if you spent the money on basic home maintenance like roofing, siding, painting, and making sure that the mechanical services a house depends upon for comfort and safety are up to date and in good working order.

Buyers Are Planning On Remodeling Anyway

Many potential buyers would be willing to live with outdated finishes and fixtures for a certain period of time after purchase as long as the house itself was in good repair. Over 70 percent of homebuyers who purchase existing homes plan on remodeling projects before they even close the deal on the house, and up to 40 percent did make those improvements within six months of closing on the house. These projects are mostly to fit out a home with the finishes and styles that a particular buyer might favor, not for major repairs of structure and systems that buyers expect to be in good repair when they purchase the house. For example, putting a new roof on a home before selling can increase the sale price by 96.3 percent of its cost. If you spend $25,000 on a kitchen remodel, you may indeed be able to recoup the majority of the cost upon resale, but only after all the other routine maintenance on he house is done. No one will pay you for new granite countertops if the leaky roof is dripping on them.

~ Lonnie Shapiro ~