Remodeling moves to payoff in 2017

Getting ready to sell your home can be a lot of work. You need to get an estimate on what you can sell for, you want to wait for the right time to sell (typically in the spring), and you need to do many projects to get your house looking presentable and to increase your home's value as much as possible. But how do you know what remodel projects are a waste of money and which ones will pay off? Here are some helpful remodel tips for getting the best payoff in 2017.

Stick with minor projects

One of the best pieces of advice is to pick minor projects to work on instead of diving into anything major. When you do major projects, it costs a lot of money, and usually the payoff isn’t very good, according to Time. For example, completely gutting everything in your kitchen to get the best stuff possible isn’t going to increase your home’s value much more than just a fresh coat of paint on the cabinets.

Kitchens and bathrooms are a good start

People look at an empty room and see all kinds of possibilities for how they can paint it or where to put their furniture, but kitchens and bathrooms can’t be changed very easily. They look at those rooms as permanent, so it is important they look nice. Painting or staining cabinets, new updated fixtures, and a even stainless steel appliances all go a long way to increasing your property value and selling your house. If your bathroom feels gross, people won’t want to live there, and if your kitchen feels tight and dirty, nobody will want to eat there let alone cook there.

Cover up sore spots

If your washer and dryer are sitting in the kitchen, covering them with doors or curtains will make them seem less imposing in the room. And if you have old, ugly baseboard heaters, covering them with baseboard heater covers will help make them disappear into the decor of the room. Nobody ever has to notice all the ugly things that can’t be fixed or moved if you do a good job of making them disappear.

Paint in neutral colors

The best thing you can do as a remodel project before the you sell your home in 2017 is to paint everything. If you have white walls that are starting to look dirty, paint them to look fresh. And if you have any colors on the walls that aren’t neutral, it is important that you paint over them too. Sure, you might love having a whole room filled with pink walls, but most people don’t like bold colors. Even if they do, they prefer to pick it out and do it themselves. So painting everything neutral colors will help make your buyers feel like they can make it their home.

Basement finishes

A lot of people finish their basements in hopes it will boost their home’s value a lot. And while it does help your value to have a finished basement, remember that in most places, the finishes in your basement don’t matter much to the overall value. The price per sq ft in an appraisal doesn’t account much for how nicely finished a basement is. Most of the value in the home comes from the upstairs layout and finishes. Adding rooms is valuable regardless of how nicely it is done, so don’t waste a bunch of money on extra things you don’t need if you are simply finishing your basement to get a good sale.

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