Smart Remodeling

My book club met at one of our long-time member's home this month and we were all got to experience the unveiling of her grand remodel. The house may be for sale soon, and my friend did some very smart things that should pay off in higher profits when it does sell.

She repaired the annoying things that just make a place look bad. Little ones -- smoke detectors that were hanging from their wires -- to very big ones -- completely upgraded the heating system which had had a problem. They replaced all the kitchen appliances, which was expensive, and painted the entire house will new looking warm colors -- which was no more expensive than a regular maintenance paint job. She replaced worn out carpet, but just cleaned the saltillo tile floor. And it look great. Similarly, she replaced the pinky toned doors and fronts of the kitchen cabinets with a clean, dark wood style, which was much cheaper than ripping out the countertops and redoing the cabinet boxes.

In the two pictures at the right, taken in the local TV cooking show, you can see the difference the remodel has made. From an old-school pink to to fresh new look.
 
The wood trim in the home isn't the newest style, but it is nice wide functional wood. All of this was refinished and bathrooms with very old faucets were replaced but not the ones that still looked good.  

This is smart remodeling. Everyone in the book club thought the home looked up to date, warm and inviting. Everything is functional and a buyer could move right in and not have a problem for a long time. Most of the Breckenridge real estate market is involves second home owners and very few want to come to town to a project. They don't know the local contractors, where to get supplies, who to trust and what is a good going rate so the homes for sale that sell, are the ones that are ready to go.

While this is extremely important when it comes to Breckenridge Homes for sale, it's true across the country.

According to Remodeling Magazine, if you update any bathroom that's 25 years old, with standard fixtures, add no additional space -- about $7,500 of cost -- and you can expect to see 75.1% of that reflected in the price you'll get at closing. Go full bore, for an upscale bathroom, say your spend about $23,000, chances are you'll get a little skinnier ROI -- 63.5% of the cost in the price your home fetches.
 
The magazine, which is trying to selling remodeling, encourages higher end kitchen re-dos. Upscale remodels that includes things like cherry, custom cabinets, stone counter tops and quality back splash, as well as high-end appliances will bring back 75.9% of the $51,000 price tag they estimated. A mid-range remodel that simply upgrades outdated appliances but improves traffic flow like the upscale one, will only give back 66.5% of the $28,000 it costs.

Refinishing a basement for about $12,000, they estimate will return 54.8% of the cot, and adding on a deck 41.5% of the modest $3,000 they estimate for a 16 x 20 foot deck made of composite material.