Renovating Tips for Houseowners and Flippers

Renovating your home always seems like a regretful decision in the moment, but in the end, you are left with a sense of satisfaction that makes it all worth while. But why bother going through all the stress and trouble of ripping walls out or ripping floorboards up? And that is a valid question. However, you can’t make an omelet without cracking a few eggs, and in this case, knocking down a wall or two to make that house omelet you want so badly.

The first facet to consider is what you plan to accomplish with the remodel. Are you selling or keeping? Both involve renovating to some degree, but one comes with more restrictions and tempered with expectation.

You Are Keeping the House

This path is, arguably, the more fun out of the two. When you are renovating your own house, with intentions of keeping it, you can make changes to it that are all about you. When you renovate for the sake of reselling, your decisions are always looked at through the lens of getting a return on your investment. You would have to be more broad about your renovating decisions because, more often than not, any work you put into making changes will probably be replaced with the new owner’s idea of renovating. That is not the case when you are living in it.

You want funky counter tops and back-splashes that only you would find tasteful? Go for it. You have the opportunity to invest in more luxury home additions than you would reselling your home. Luxury home additions tend to be more about want rather than needs. For example, a renovated basement or a whole new room as a recreational room would be considered luxury home additions. In fact, luxury home additions can even work as a return on an investment if you plan on selling, too.

If you plan on doing your own improvements, if it is too much to handle, employ a professional. You may end up being the 1 out of 12 individuals that harmed their home because of an improvement or you could end up being the one out of 16 individuals that hurt themselves doing the work. Bodily injury for the sake of saving money could end up costing you more than the job itself.

You Are Selling the House

Making renovations to a house that is being sold is more of a rigid process. You need to be concerned with broad decisions that have a higher ROI percentage. ROI is “Return On Investment.” In other words, a return on investment is an investment that rewards you with more money than you put in. If you invest in a new bathroom, an investment with an ROI average of 86.4 percent, and, for argument sake, you spend $1,000 renovating, then you can expect a ballpark ROI of about $1,800. The value of your home went up for making that decision, which means you can ask for more on the sale.

Consider the age as well. Older homes are harder to sell without making improvements first, especially when it comes to pipes and old technology. If your house is older than 1980, then it needs updates before you can even consider selling it. In fact, 85 percent of pre-1980 American homes need work.