Saturday, July 26, 2008

What's the Issue Here? Home improvements that "pay off"

I'm reading this article on Yahoo Finance about home improvements and how they can help in a down economy in helping you sell your house. The first paragraph:

"With homes lingering on the market for months — and those that sell going for well below the asking price — sellers need all the help they can get. One way to help improve the odds of unloading a home: renovations."

So it talks about a few of the renovations you can make to help unload your house. Here's the table at the end of the article:

Home Renovation Costs & How Much You'll Recoup
Project
Average Cost
Average Amount You'll Recoup
Replacing the roof
$18,042
67%
Replacing the siding
$9,910
83%
Turning the attic into a bedroom
$46,691
77%
Extra closet space
$1,250
50%
Remodeling the bathroom*
$59,435
75%
Minor kitchen upgrades
$21,185
83%
Installing an energy-efficient window
$325
50%
Minor landscaping
up to $1,000
100%

So let's play a game called "What's the issue here?" Can you tell me "what the issue is?"

4 comments:

Winston Lee (Savvy Familee) said...

Well, even if you're losing money on those improvements, if the point is to sell the house and those upgrades get you there, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Dale said...

So why wouldn't you just bring the price of the house down instead of paying for the improvements?

Martha said...

If you have certain renovations, people may be more likely to buy your house than the house down the street w/o the renovations. Even if priced slightly higher. Some people don't want to move into a house knowing that they have to do remodeling right away (others would rather do the remodeling themselves, so they can do it exactly the way they want, but I suspect that's in the minority these days).

I don't think it helps with the purchase PRICE, but it may help to unload your house rather than keep it on the market.... And, if you're trying to sell something as huge as a house, sometimes it's better to get it SOLD than to sit on it for a few more months, paying mortgage potentially on two homes.

Anonymous said...

"So why wouldn't you just bring the price of the house down instead of paying for the improvements?"

And cut into the agents' commissions? What are you, crazy? =p