Remodeling Your Home: For Sale or For You? -

There are two main reasons that people have for remodeling their homes. The first is to please themselves. The second is to update it in order to make it more marketable for sale.

What’s important to remember is to not “over-remodel” if you are thinking of selling. Remodeling to the extreme is not a good idea because the value of your home could exceed what the market will bear for your area. Having the nicest house in the neighborhood won’t always get you the best return on your remodeling investment.

Many times, people have had to sell their homes for less than they expect because the improvements were not cost-effective. For example, a $50,000 kitchen in a home currently valued at $200,000, may not translate into an equally higher return on the sale of that home if the rest of the houses in that neighborhood are selling for $225,000. Be aware of what the market is doing where you live.

If you are considering some remodeling to your home for the purpose of selling it, please consult me for some tips. I will be happy to help you decide how much you need to do to help the sale. I have at my disposal the tools to determine what your house could potentially sell for, and recommendations for contractors to help you with what you can’t do yourself. At BC Artman Real Estate, we handle many of these projects with our own contracting team.

On the other hand, if you plan to stay in your home for the rest of your life, over-improving won’t be as limiting because you will continue to enjoy these improvements, without the worry of getting the money back from a sale. Go ahead and put that expensive kitchen in for the cook in your house! Or just for the pleasure of looking at a beautiful kitchen. Make your bathroom the haven that you crave, create the man-cave of your dreams. Just be sure that if you aren’t able to make these improvements yourself, that you carefully screen the contractors you hire to do it.

It is most important to request an insurance certificate from your contractor. This protects your home as well as the contractor. They should have at least $1,000,000 in liability insurance. Your contractor should also be licensed by the state. Generally speaking, a contractor who is licensed is also insured, as this is required during the licensing process, and renewed every two years.