Get the best bang for your renovation buck

Now more than ever, Canadian homeowners are venturing into the domain of home renovating.  Many Canadians look forward to enjoying the new, attractive or functional features that these renovations can bring to their everyday life.  Yet more and more, market-savvy homeowners are spending thousands of dollars on home improvements, just to turn around in a short period and put the property up for sale.  Renovations may not sound like a novel idea in terms of adding market value to your home.  However, knowing how and where to use your money can help you achieve the best return on your investment by delivering an improved listing price when the time comes to sell.

The two most prominent areas of your home that will affect its selling appeal are the kitchen and bathrooms, so these are two prime areas to focus on if you’re looking for the biggest bang for your renovating bucks.  For bathrooms, if you’re looking to improve resale value, then focus your efforts first on the main floor bath or powder room.  Buyers decide on a home within the first few minutes, and it will be the only one they will have seen in that time.  Besides, it’s usually the bathroom all your visitors use and it’s typically small – perhaps a half bathroom – so it’s a good place to splurge and achieve maximum impact for a relatively low expenditure.  After the main floor, the master bath is most worthy of premium fixtures and upgrades, because that’s the one prospective buyers will visualize themselves using.  For these two rooms, you don’t necessarily have to break the bank by replacing tubs and sinks.  New products such as porcelain tub paint or even a full insert that mounts on top of your existing tub can give your bathroom a fresh as new look.  Where it will pay off in the end to spend some money is with new, modern faucets and perhaps a new light fixture. 

No other fixture in the home gets more use than the kitchen faucet – so don’t skimp here!  A good idea is to choose one of the latest washerless styles that minimize internal seals and components that can wear out.  Spend the extra couple of dollars on stylish, advanced faucets that will give years of leak-free service.  While the plumbing for the faucets are out, you might decide to replace the kitchen sink – a good investment if yours is showing signs of obvious wear. 

The countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms are another guaranteed-return home improvement.  If the cost seems a little daunting, don’t be discouraged.  New melamine paints can rejuvenate an outdated counter surface with today’s new cool neutral shades.  If your counter is scratched and worn, there are new countertops available today, which are custom ordered pieces according to your specifications that are placed over top of your existing counter.  The end result is a low cost, limited effort alternative that gives you the look of solid granite!

Give me a call today for further ideas on how to best improve your home in terms of market value.