
The drop in real estate prices and dried up home equity financing has made both owners and buyers unsure where to spend their limited cash today on home renovations. People question what work they should undertake, both to improve their day to day living, and to make smart choices for re-sale and long term property valuation.
Should homeowners add a new addition to gain another bedroom and finish the basement for the kids, or redo their 1950′s kitchen and update all those funky baths?
In today more complex real estate climate, a new kitchen and redone baths are the smarter investment.
Before the market nose-dived in 2008, some new buyers actually looked for older homes with strong bones, but with kitchens and baths needing serious help. Buyers wanted to bring their own creative vision and comforts to all those newly purchased spaces. Money was cheap and easy and the gleam not yet off the rose from multiple ‘anyone can do it’ home renovation TV shows. For many newly motivated home buyers, construction was quick and always finished up in a viewing half-hour. And buyers then could afford the float of carrying two homes during major renovations, before making actual moves.
Conversely, if a seller wasn’t able renovate before going to market, their funky baths and missing new kitchen was not that much of a turn-off. Home buyers and brokers just factored it all in to the final selling price.
No longer. Continue Reading