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When people talk about the value of renovations they are already factoring in the location. The question is whether renovating a house increases its value over the neighboring properties (same location) and by how much.
There is certainly variation to how much is "how much more" due to location. In a sought after market a fully renovated house does seem to command a juicy premium over an unrenovated/dated house. I'm seeing this with my own eyes. Can the differential be 200k? Yes, easily. Even for the same sqft, side by side houses.
Depends on the upgrades/renovations AND wether the buyer likes them. I see a lot of “do what yiu want it’s your house” ....which is true. But don’t expect everyone to like your choose of cabinets or the layout, the paint or carpet.
I mean take a Lamborghini and paint it 90s Chevy teal. Yeah it’s repainted but you just devalued it. Same with a house. Bad upgrades are bad regardless of they re new or the location.
Dude I walked in a house that I was looking to buy.....the guy had I kid you not...hot pink and gold lightning bolts. The 80s style of hot pink. All over the house. I half expected a gaggle of blondes Eric. Spandex and leg warmers dancing to let’s get physical.
Dude I walked in a house that I was looking to buy.....the guy had I kid you not...hot pink and gold lightning bolts. The 80s style of hot pink. All over the house. I half expected a gaggle of blondes Eric. Spandex and leg warmers dancing to let’s get physical.
And you must know, he was PROUD of that masterpiece, too!
The property must use that as a feature, unlike other properties!
Services have become insanely expensive and the workers have no skills, to boot. I will not buy anything for any price unless it is up to my standards at the time of sale - including landscaping.
Depends on the upgrades/renovations AND wether the buyer likes them. I see a lot of “do what yiu want it’s your house” ....which is true. But don’t expect everyone to like your choose of cabinets or the layout, the paint or carpet.
I mean take a Lamborghini and paint it 90s Chevy teal. Yeah it’s repainted but you just devalued it. Same with a house. Bad upgrades are bad regardless of they re new or the location.
Dude I walked in a house that I was looking to buy.....the guy had I kid you not...hot pink and gold lightning bolts. The 80s style of hot pink. All over the house. I half expected a gaggle of blondes Eric. Spandex and leg warmers dancing to let’s get physical.
I have seen bad renovations and flipped projects where the flippers clearly had no idea what they were doing. Some real horror shows, like faux stone walls inside the house. And some currently popular trends are hideous enough that you know they are going to be widely reviled in just a few years. That they can hurt the value of the property, no questions about it. The worst renovations are usually in quasi-gentrifying areas of older houses and by newbies with no real understanding of quality or taste.
But these are the minority of renovations. I'd say most renovated properties are just fine. We can argue over the quality of tiles or finishes but they come across as just fine, if boring. Truly fabulous renovations are never cheap and for good reasons, because they used top dollar materials and craftsmanship.
If a change is necessary for functionality, I would call that "upgrading." "Updating" is, by definition, simply changing from a style that is now out of date to the one that is currently fashionable and therefore optional. Nothing "needs" to be more contemporary in appearance.
A listing is an advertisement, meant to paint something in the best possible light. A house that is somewhat dated in appearance will gloss over that fact; most competent agents won't say "needs updating," unless in fact it needs upgrading.
Services have become insanely expensive and the workers have no skills, to boot. I will not buy anything for any price unless it is up to my standards at the time of sale - including landscaping.
Renovations. So 1990's.
Excellent point! I always forget how ridiculously expensive today's handymen (now called "contractors," so they can charge more) are, and how unsatisfactory their work always is when I'm browsing real estate ads and dreaming.
I would actually pay extra for someone else's taste. If it were up to me, I would have a cardboard box as my kitchen table, and an igloo cooler as my fridge. All I know is that magazine kitchens look great. I think I would rather pay $100k more for an already finished kitchen that would cost me $50k to design and build on my own. The fact that I don't have to make stupid choices about something as dumb as a kitchen style and not have contractors in my house for months on end is easily worth $50k premium.
Your post has a lot of merit. I have updated a lot of my rental houses and a couple of things on personal houses during the years when DH worked at an office and I worked from home. Earlier this past summer we bought a house and moved from the house we’d lived in for 3 years (that was an investor flip) and the new house is quite outdated. Before we moved in, we had all the flooring replaced and the house painted. DH was constantly terrorizing the contractors about getting finished although both completed as scheduled. Then, on the first week in December the master and guest bath projects began. They finished on Saturday January 23. So approx 7 weeks to tear out bathtubs, showers, countertops and replace everything. I sourced all the materials and only paid the general contractor for labor. Beautiful workmanship and the entire project cost us about $20K (screaming deals on materials). To find equivalent houses with the bathrooms updated would have cost us about $100K more.
Still, this man complained every day about having contractors in the house, any down days of no workers, etc. etc. and he was on the general contractor’s back constantly. I know now that if we ever change personal residences again that we will get a place that’s updated to our liking and just pay the price.
There's a reason flippers make money, and it's not selling the houses as is. Some renovations bring a return, and some don't. The key is to put the money in the right areas.
There's a reason flippers make money, and it's not selling the houses as is. Some renovations bring a return, and some don't. The key is to put the money in the right areas.
Getting the house at the right price to begin with given the comps in the area appears to be another key.
Services have become insanely expensive and the workers have no skills, to boot. I will not buy anything for any price unless it is up to my standards at the time of sale - including landscaping.
Renovations. So 1990's.
That's a big issue when buying a recently renovated home. Even the skilled contractors use subs. I don't focus on hgtv features when I look at a house but the details and conditions ie workman ship.
And yes looking at landscaping for several reasons including are bushes and mulch near a wall trying to "repair" a leak. Besides attention to detail on landscaping one needs to think will they do themselves or contract it out because landscapers are a dime a dozen now. Too many in that biz. If yardwork is not your thing that needs to be factored into cost.
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