by carolinaone_marketing
26. February 2015 02:31
Summerville has a booming real estate market, and we all know that you need to spruce up your house before you put it up for sale. But not every improvement is going to translate to extra dollars at closing. Here are four changes you may think you need to make, but really don’t—straight from our Summerville, SC real estate experts:
Repainting everything
Many homeowners’ first instinct is to paint, paint, paint... not so fast! If the outside of your home needs a new paint job (or siding repair), this is a great choice which will improve curb appeal and make your listing pop. Interior repainting however is more dicey. Everyone walking through your home is already fantasizing about the new colors they’re going to repaint everything, so it doesn’t necessarily pay to do repainting of your own. Replacing bad wallpaper or repainting a dingy room can be a good choice, but you don’t necessarily have to take your pastel butter-yellow kitchen and repaint it white just to make the sale.
Removing vintage elements
If you have any vintage or antique elements in your home, think very, very carefully before removing or tampering with them. This is especially true of hardwood elements or antique light fixtures, original cabinet handles, etc. They may look dated to you but they are likely irreplaceable and many of your buyers may cringe and brand new fixtures. Consider whether restoration is better than replacing them, or even if they look okay as-is. If you do remove them, box them and include them with the house.
Remodeling
The home improvement projects that you take on before selling a house should be low to moderate cost and have obvious payoff in the sale price. Generally, that will not include entire remodeling projects. There are rare exceptions to this, such as when a bathroom or kitchen is in terrible shape, but bear in mind that any remodeling is going to be expensive and time consuming. In most cases, it will be hard to make back the cost of the remodel on the increased sale price of the house.
Anything non-mainstream
There are lots of really cool, innovative technologies that can go into houses these days, but unless they’re well known and popular they won’t improve your sale price. For example, tankless water heaters are a huge step up from traditional water heaters but most buyers have never heard of them. If a potential improvement is clever but not very mainstream, save if for your own future home and stick to the basics for the one you’re selling.