Which 5 Home Improvements Offer a Great Return?

Here are the five home improvements that offer the best bang for your buck.

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One of the questions I’ve been asked a lot lately is, “How can I strategically improve my home so that it fetches top dollar in today’s real estate market?” Here are my top five recommendations for sellers:

1. Neutralize the color palette. Let’s get rid of all the bold, quirky, or “loud” colors in your home and opt for more natural, crowd-pleasing colors like grays or whites. While you have the paint out, you might as well go around and touch up any borders, mouldings, or other areas where you can see the paint chipping.

2. Update your curb appeal. You want buyers to drive by your house and say, “Wow, now that is a home I’d love to live in.” Your front door is very important as far as first impressions go, so restain or repaint it if it looks dated. If it’s noticeably worn or has busted hardware, replacing it will definitely be worth your money. If your mailbox is scratched or dented, replace that as well. Also, trim up the trees on your property, especially the ones with branches that hang down around your roof.

In the kitchen, save yourself time and money by just focusing on the cabinets.

3. Update your flooring and kitchen. This could be as simple as replacing a banged-up rug to give your house a new look, or you might need to get a little more involved by putting down some hard floors or tile. In the kitchen, save yourself time and money by just focusing on the cabinets—replace the front cabinet doors, or repaint them and then add brand-new hardware.

4. Let in as much natural light as you can. Go through and replace every lightbulb so that the light throughout your home is that nice, even, soft tone. We want to avoid bright, concentrated light, like the kind you’d see in a doctor’s office. Get rid of dark curtains, open up your blinds, and clean the insides and outsides of your windows so as to let in as much natural light as possible.

5. Deep clean, depersonalize, and declutter. Okay, so maybe this one isn’t technically a home improvement, but I’ll keep stressing it every chance I get—it’s that impactful.

Hopefully you found this list to be helpful. Don’t hesitate to reach out by phone or email if you want some specialized advice for your particular selling needs; we do have a concierge service that helps with home improvements such as staging, flooring, kitchen upgrading, and painting. Best of all—you don’t have to put any money down up front for this service! Again, know you can always drop me a line if ever you have any questions about real estate.