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SHOULD I UPDATE MY HOME?
If my home is more than 10 years old, will I get more money out of it if I update it to current trends?
The answer to this question is most always yes, but the ROI may or may not be worth your time.
In our 10+ years working in real estate we have learned that you can get more bang for your buck for updating certain elements of a home. If you are updating a home purely to get more money out of it, not for personal enjoyment at all, hiring a general contractor to manage a large project while you are living in the home is usually not worth it. Just sell your home as is.
If you are able to do these cosmetic updates yourself or not involve a general contract and just hire your subs directly, you will make a much larger margin in your ROI when selling and most of the time it is worth it to put some minimal updating if needed.
Here are the elements we have found over the years get the most bang for your buck investment wise. These are listed in greatest ROI to least amount (even negative ROI).
#1 ROI: Paint- We have attached this Youtube video of the before and after our first home we renovated completely by ourselves (Jake was a second year resident and Kait was pregnant with our 4th child, so you can empathize with how difficult that was). We painted every inch of this home by ourselves. The kitchen cabinets? We painted. The ceilings, walls, trim? We painted. Even the doors and the bathroom cabinets we painted. The biggest transformation of this home largely involved paint. We probably spent $6,000 on paint and supplies. The impact on how different this home was is easily a $100,000 turnaround just from paint alone. If you can't paint yourself, hiring a painter to update your home. It is still well worth the money and makes a home feel brand new. This is one reason a Realtor is valuable. They know what sells fast and what is trendy. From 2002-2011 we saw brown tones were high trend. From 2011-2020 we saw the Chip and Jo grey tones farmhouse shiplap in style. from 2019-now we see more of the Scandinavian, modern farmhouse white walls and dark accents and bold color patterns in high trend. If you paint your home the wrong trend color, your paint will be a sunk cost.
# 2 ROI Light fixtures- Don't underestimate the difference feature light fixtures can make in a home. They are relatively cheap and easy to update and can make a home feel brand new.
#3 ROI Feature walls- Feature walls make homes feel custom and high end. For some cheap MDF, nails, and some paint it is a huge ROI. This includes things like backsplashes.
#4 ROI Hardware- New hardware on cabinets and bathroom faucets can really update the feel, without painting or drilling new holes.
#5 ROI Flooring- Flooring makes a big difference in a home, but it is also more costly and labor intensive
#6 ROI Countertops- Also relatively expensive to get stone counters on, you will get your money back and some, but not as much if you had to prioritize and do the other elements above
Things that usually are a sunk cost:
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Any Landscaping. Usually only results in about 1/2 the money your put into it out of it. I tell my clients to "clean it up" and that is it.
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Putting brand new counters on old cabinets that are not high quality.
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Flooring that is installed poorly
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Any obvious DIY job
If trying to decide what areas to update first to give you the most ROI, these are the areas that will give you the most bang for your buck.
