Top 5 Home Improvement Projects Based on Cost and ROI

People often ask me, “What home improvements can I do to get the most money for my home?” I’ve talked about some of things you should do to get your home ready for the market in past blog posts and would like to add to it by quoting an article that came out the other week…

According to the HomeGain survey, the top five home improvements that Realtors recommend to home sellers based on cost and return on investment (from highest to lowest ROI) are:

1. Cleaning and de-cluttering ($200 cost / $1,700 price increase / 872% ROI)
2. Home staging ($300 cost / $1,780 price increase / 586% ROI)
3. Lightening and brightening ($230 cost / $1,300 price increase / 572% ROI)
4. Landscaping ($320 cost / $1,500 price increase / 473% ROI)
5. Repairing plumbing ($385 cost / $1,250 price increase / 327% ROI)

Cleaning and de-cluttering continues to rank as the top suggested home improvement (since the survey was originally conducted in 2000), recommended by 98% of Realtors, costing less than $200 and returning a value of nearly $1,700 to the home’s sale price, or an 872% return on investment.

“Many Realtors agree, especially in a buyer’s market, that sellers who make these recommended home improvements often get their homes sold faster and at higher prices,” stated Louis Cammarosano, General Manager at HomeGain. “We have customized our Home Sale Maximizer online home improvement tool to help identify and prioritize the projects that can increase the salability and selling price of a home.”

Rounding out the top 12, the list of low cost, do-it-yourself home improvements includes: updating electrical, replacing or shampooing carpets, painting interior walls, repairing damaged floors, updating kitchen, painting outside of home, and updating bathroom/s.

The home improvement projects with the highest price increases to a home’s resale value are updating the kitchen ($1,200 cost / $2,850 price increase), followed by painting the outside of the home ($900 cost / $1,815 price increase) and home staging ($300 cost / $1,780 price increase).

10 Mistakes Sellers Should Avoid

This short, sweet and to the point video is a must-see for all sellers who want to sell their home for the highest dollar amount possible (regardless of geographical location).

Note…one other huge mistake that sellers make is to not price their property correctly. Until your property is priced correctly, it will sit on the market collecting Days On Market. And, as the video points out in Step 4, the longer your home sits on the market, the more buyers start to wonder "what's wrong with the property" and the less chance you have of getting an offer at all.

Hat tip to Lani at AgentGenius

How To Have Your Home Make A Great First Impression To Buyers

When you meet someone for the first time, what’s the first thing you do? You look them up and down, notice how they’re dressed, listen to the inflection in their voice, watch their mannerisms, etc. You then use that information to help make an initial judgment of that person (whether consciously or subconsciously). This is called a first impression.

Well, the same holds true for buyers when they first drive up to your home to preview it. What buyers see when they first drive up to your home will set the tone for the rest of their visit. It’s the buyer’s first impression of your home and you want to make it a good one.

The number one thing when it comes to having your home make a great first impression on a buyer is the curb appeal. Part of curb appeal is landscaping, especially in the front yard. Your front yard is one of the first things buyers see when the arrive at your home. It’s also going to be used in the picture of your home that buyers see when they’re browsing online.

Now you don’t have to go crazy and spend gobs of money or even hire a landscaping company. All you really need is about a few hundred dollars and a few hours to a day of your time.

Here are some of the things you can do:

• Throw some grass seeds or sod down ahead of your home going on the market
• Make sure your lawn is cut at all times
• Spray for weeds
• Lay down fresh mulch just before your home goes on the market (you can also look at a different color mulch that will go along with the colors of the flowers, siding, shutters, etc)
• Neatly trim bushes, ivy, trees, etc.
• Plan some bushes, small trees, etc.
• Plant seasonal flowers that go along with the color scheme of the outside of your home
• Place or hang planters on your front porch if you have one
• Throw in some solar lights in the mulch/grass alongside the walk-way to your front door (you can get inexpensive ones at Home Depot or Lowe’s)

If you have a really bad brown thumb, you could always hire a landscaper or bribe a friend or family member to do it for you. It’ll cost you more (including a future favor to your friend ot family member), but it may be well worth it.

Note: If you’re thinking about planting/cutting down trees or large bushes, you may want to check with your HOA regarding the community bylaws/rules. And don’t plant things so close to the house that the buyer’s Home Inspector brings it up as a fault during the Home Inspection (I’ve seen it happen often).

Want To Write A “Lowball” Offer?

There’s a great article that ran this past Saturday in the Washington Post entitled "Playing Lowball – From the Reasonable To the Ridiculous, A Guide To Small Offers". It goes over tips on how and when lowball offers are appropriate and best submitted by buyers. It also goes over tips on how to deal with lowball offers if you’re a seller.

If you missed the article, click here.

(Thank you Renae for interviewing and quoting me in the article)