Home Improvements in Kansas City

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There are two reasons for pursuing major home improvement projects:

A. You want new features in a home to improve your family’s quality of life, but you don’t want to leave your current home.

B. You want to make your home more marketable to maximize return (or minimize loss) and speed up the sale process.

In the right market conditions, a project might fit into both categories. Other times, though, the two approaches will conflict:

Just want to do it

In situation A, the project is perceived as a necessary or worthwhile improvement to your family’s lifestyle. Say you have two or three teenagers in the family and the morning bathroom situation is completely out of control. It doesn’t matter if an  additional bath generates a 150 percent return on investment or actually decreases the value of the. The economic impact just doesn’t matter.  Or say you’re a barbecue fiend and the only feature missing from the dream home you’ve just purchased is a sprawling backyard patio with a natural-gas grill custom-built with flagstone and river rock. Again, return on investment isn’t a critical question. The improvement becomes more comparable to purchasing a depreciating asset you feel is a necessity for your lifestyle – such as an automobile. When the barbecue aficionado adds a deluxe patio – there’s a good chance very little of the cost will be recouped in a subsequent sale. A better example might be a pool. It is probably worth checking with a real estate professional to make sure you fully understand that adding a pool might actually lessen the property’s value. It is always worth knowing the cost and salability impacts before you act.   

The “type-B” home improvement project is pursued to increase the property’s salability. In turn, this often increases your return on investment.  A good real estate agent can advise you of possible improvements that will attract more potential buyers and also pay for themselves either through increasing the home’s value or through shortening the time it takes to sell the home.Projects such as: painting – either because the existing paint is in bad shape or is an unusual color; replacing carpets – again because of age, color or style; repairing or resurfacing a cracked driveway or sidewalk; facing kitchen cabinets; and trimming or removing overgrown or unattractive landscaping.

While spending several thousand dollars on your home right before you sell it might not sound very appealing, it’s not uncommon for the right work to more than pay for itself in a higher selling price and shorter marketing time. 

Whether you’re thinking about buying or selling or seeking information, rely on RE/MAX Best Associates 800-391-BEST(2378) X106 or 913-339-0615 to provide accurate up to date information about the marketplace email to: tfarrell@remax.net  or visit www.kansascityerealestate.com