Renovating a home can be tricky if your goal is to get a return on your investment. Just because you spend money on a property it doesn’t always guarantee that it will increase in value. It’s important to know how to spend your renovation budget wisely in order to get the highest return on your investment. Since 2004 we’ve successfully rehabbed well over 300 Orlando properties. In that time we learned a heck of a lot about Orlando home renovations and unfortunately, some lessons were learned the hard way. By knowing what the return on your investment will be on different renovation projects that you may want to complete on your property, you will be able to maximize every dollar that you spend. Going off of my own experiences as an Orlando Realtor, we’ve put together a list of what has given us the biggest return on our investment dollars on any renovation project.
Top 5 renovations for getting the biggest bang for your buck
1-Clean and De-clutter- Removing the clutter from a house and making it spotless should be at the top of your list of any renovation. By removing bulky or furniture from a house you will give it an automatic facelift and not only that, your house will appear to be much larger. I once had a client list their house with me and when I instruct them to clean and de-clutter their home for showing purposes, she fell in love with her newly de-cluttered home all over again then decided not to sell after all. And with the exception of a few cleaning supplies, there is really know other cost involved because this is something that you can easily do yourself.
2-Paint- A new paint job will by far give you the highest return on your investment. Not only does paint make a huge difference in the overall appearance of the house, but it’s also the cheapest improvement that you can do to a home with the exception of cleaning it. The best part is that it’s something you can do yourself and save even more money. Painting might seem like a daunting task to some, but with the right tools and a little internet knowledge, you can do the job yourself and save even more money. Youtube is a great place to go for any instructional video that you can think of. In this case, you would just type “How to paint a house” into the search bar. Another place you can go is the Home Depot and ask when their next painting class will be. It’s a free workshop and good for people who prefer the hands-on learning approach.
3-Landscaping- By improving the landscape of a home you give it great curb appeal and give a potential buyer a reason to want to see more. You don’t have to be a professional landscaper in order to do a great job in your own yard. You do however, need to learn some basic landscape design. Just like most things today, there are a million free resources available to you online on landscaping tips and ideas. You should start by trimming up any existing landscaping that you decide is worth keeping, sometimes that may be all you have to. I always like to add annuals to the landscaping for a splash of color. Annuals are cheap and really bring any landscape design to life, make sure that you install plants that are in season to get the longest life from them. Although I use general contractors on all our re-habs, I always do the landscaping myself because it’s something that I enjoy doing.
4- Upgrade the Kitchen- OK , now it starts getting expensive. However, nothing will sell a house like an amazing kitchen. It’s very well known in real estate that in a couple’s situation, the lady of the household usually makes the ultimate decision…”To buy or not to buy”. This is a room where you don’t want to go cheap, but you don’t want to go broke either. Try to salvage anything that’s worth salvaging, appliances, cabinetry, etc. On one of my very first re-habs , I made the mistake of renovating the entire house except the kitchen trying to save a few bucks. The property ended up sitting on the market for 6 months and I didn’t get the purchase price that I was hoping for. Again don’t go cheap, even if you have to re-do the entire kitchen with wood cabinetry, granite counter tops and high-end appliances you should have to spend more than 5 or 6 thousand dollars which is money well spent for maximizing the return on your investment dollars.
5-Upgrade the Bathrooms – You won’t need to spend near as much on a bathroom upgrade as you would on renovating a kitchen. Like a kitchen renovation, investing in a nice bathroom is well worth it when it comes time to sell the house. You can get pre-made vanities that come with stone countertops in the 6 to 8 hundred dollar range and I suggest that you always replace the toilet unless it’s in “like new” condition. No one wants to see, let alone sit on an old dirty toilet. Even if you had to replace everything in the entire bathroom with high-end fixtures and furnishings, you shouldn’t have to spend more than a thousand bucks to complete the project and you can rest assured that it’s money well spent. People spend a lot of time in the bathroom that’s why it’s important that they enjoy their surroundings while they’re in there.
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