Nothing new there, right?  The method for getting the most for your money is a moving target, and home improvement is certainly no exception. 

For many years upgrading your kitchen and bathrooms was the way to add the most value to your home.  During the most recent new-home building boom, things like granite counter tops and tile floors became the expected norm rather than a high end upgrade. 

Then prices began to fall!  Now how do you make your home more appealing than the rest of the market?  For quite a while price seemed to be the foremost (maybe even seemed like the only) selling point.  There’s not much you can do when shaving every penny off the selling price is required to get the buyers to even look at your home.  If you wanted to remodel during this time the guiding factor seemed to be to do what made the home more desirable to YOU because YOU are the one that is going to be living in it for a white.

Now prices seem to have stabilized, maybe they aer even going up a bit.  OK.  Remodeling is again plausible.  But, what is going to pay off?  What are buyers willing to pay for?  What will make a perspective buyer prefer your home over the one down the block?  These are all good questions, and need to be answered before you spend that hard earned money.

While this varies by area, neighborhood, price point and other variables, some basic guidelines can be deduced by watching the market.  According to RISMedia (a major news source for Real Estate) some of the things that pay best are:

Tip 1: Remodel your kitchen
Tip 2: Add a Garage
Tip 3: Remodel your bathroom
Tip 4: Install the right flooring material
Tip 5: Install granite counter tops
Tip 6: Increase curb appeal
Tip 7: Add natural light
Tip 8: Open up the space
Tip 9: Apply a fresh coat of paint
Tip 10: Clean up clutter

To get more detail or read the complete article click HERE. 

While we can not guarantee that any remodel will pay off in increased selling prices, keeping an eye towards yur neighborhood and the type of things that seem to work there will usually be your best bet.  How do you know what is working in your neighborhood?  Ask around.  Ask your neighbors.  Ask at the home improvement stores.  What pleases you?  Do your plans fit the neighborhood?

You can also spend a lot of time digging through the lists of sold homes to see what sold for what price, then compare the amenities and upgrades, accounting for time sold, conditions of the sale … the list goes on and on. 

OR

You can ask your Realtor®.  At Yuba Sutter Homes And Loans we are happy to help you sort this information.  And we do it with no cost to you.  Why?  Because we believe that by helping you we help the neighborhood.  By helping the neighborhood we help our communities.  By helping … you get the idea.  Of course, when it comes time for you to buy, sell, or refinance (yes, that can still be done) we would like you to consider us as your professional assistant.  But we are willing to earn that trust rather than just wow you with big company names and expensive ads or empty promises.