When looking to sell a house, most people try to renovate them to increase the house’s value as much as possible. While many renovation tricks deliver the results, home remodeling architects observe that some don’t add value.
To help you out, here are home improvements that don’t add value:
Extensive professional landscaping
As much as a professionally done landscape will be pleasing to look at, it won’t bring back the huge bucks you are expecting.
If you have to remodel your landscape, do it because you love the look, not because you are expecting to recoup your investment, as you won’t.
So, don’t break your bank installing ponds, pools, or other landscaping features. Unless you love a landscaping feature, stick to the basics. Clear the debris from your yard and trim the lawn. Keep the passageways clear, then invite potential buyers in.
Upgrading your appliances
If your house is old, chances are the appliances are also old, and when you are looking to sell the house, it might seem logical to upgrade the appliances to make the house more appealing.
While this is great, you should be cautious about how you go about it, as you might spend too much money making the upgrades such that you fail to recoup your investment.
You can go ahead and replace the old, damaged, or malfunctioning appliances such as old refrigerators, but if the units are still in top working condition, there is no point in replacing them.
If you have an issue with the appliances not matching your home, consider ordering new door and face panels instead of replacing the units, as this is much cheaper.
Undertaking high-end bathroom remodels
Bathroom remodels bring back 87-93% of the investment, so they are a wise way of adding value to your house, but you should be cautious about how you go about it.
As a rule of thumb, never install high-end units such as high-end countertops or appliances as you won’t get back your money.
Excellent ways to upgrade your bathroom include: adding new paint to brighten the room and re-grouting the bathtub. A new mirror and a few light fixtures will also go a long way towards improving the bathroom look.
To reiterate, it’s okay to remodel your bathroom, but don’t go overboard as you won’t recoup the investment.
Adding a new room
It’s not a doubt that larger houses sell at higher prices than small ones. For example, a four-bedroom house will sell higher than a three-bedroom house. While this is the case, it makes sense to add another room to your home, so you sell it at a higher price, right?
Wrong!
While adding a new room will make your house more attractive, in most cases you spend more money in the addition than you get back.
To be on the safe side, avoid adding another room, and instead, renovate what you have. For example, convert the attic or basement to a bedroom instead of putting up another bedroom. You won’t spend much on the conversion, and you will make the house more attractive to potential buyers, hence your home will be out of the market fast.
While you should always aim to convert than build an additional room, architect builders Washington DC advise you to be cautious when converting your garage as in most cases, you don’t get your money back.
This is because most homebuyers prefer a functional garage to an extended living area. Instead of converting the garage to a bedroom or extended living area, make it more attractive.
