Guest Post from James Miller of Howard Hanna
(Reposted with permission from MillerMovesHomes.com)
Hi, thanks for checking out Miller Moves Homes. I’m James Miller of Howard Hanna. Today, we’re going to recap some items and some additional items, we’re going to speak of with Maria on selling her home. She’s got some additional questions for us. Maria?
Yeah, so, you know, if I wanted to hold off a little bit longer, say I’ve got some things around the house that need fixed up, I want to make sure that I’m spending my money wisely. So, what are the best renovations that I’m going to get the most bang for my buck?
Right. So, typically some of the items that people want to do are a lot different than what people should do. And one of those is, say, kitchens. So, people often think, well, maybe I’ll just spend five, six, ten thousand dollars on getting some granite countertops put in. Yeah. You know, I have a lot of I have a lot of countertop space, but it’s, you know, it’s an older material, it’s worn and what have you. The risk of that is that you put in there what people don’t like. You know, it’s your taste that you’re going to be going off of or even if you have somebody take a look at it for you. And then people may see that and say, well, that doesn’t go well with the cabinets or the cabinets need to be replaced. But I have all these beautiful countertops. So, it’s kind of a toss-up on those. Midrange kitchen remodels have the highest return out of just about everything when selling a house. What does that mean? So mid-range would be replacing hardware, lighting, faucets, fixtures, things along those lines. So not the big, major stuff. Not the not the cabinets or countertops or appliances. Really? So, that makes more of a difference? It’s the biggest return on the inside of the house.
So, and the return on that right now, the national average, I cheated and wrote it down because I wanted to confirm this is actually at 59%. Ok. Crazy enough, though, one of the highest returns on something that you can do to change the whole look of your house is siding. Now, we’re getting into a pretty costly expense at that point. And again, we are taking a risk of putting up a color or shutters or something that others don’t really care for. I typically again, my strategy is; let’s keep it simple, let’s make it as marketable as possible, and let’s stay inside of budget. And those items that I include with that are lighting. So, updating your lighting throughout. People are going to be seeing what you have throughout the house. Dated lighting just looks poor. Updated lighting just improves the whole factor, along with keeping the right kind of bulbs throughout the house. Same bulb type. If you’re going to use different bulbs, stick with one type throughout a whole room. But really, as much as you can try to keep the same type of bulb throughout the house. Any hardware. So, if your door handles are not working correctly, updating your hardware in your house just on your bedroom doors or closet doors is something else that can be affordable and then also making sure all those items are tightened.
And then, of course, my favorite: paint. Paint! Paint. It’s easy. It changes the whole look from worn and dated to updated, vibrant, more contemporary and definitely more marketable. You know, if you go from just doing a room, changing the trim color to white or changing the wall colors to a nice, subtle gray, something that just really is modernized, it makes a world of a difference. If you don’t have the tools or the budget to to do those items, there’s other things that we can do to help out that are, I say, organic. So of no cost that can make really big changes throughout the property in order for marketing the house. Yeah, that’s good to know. Yeah, it’s great. And you know, keeping inside of budget and still coming out with a good profit on your part is really our ultimate goal. Keeping it simple, making you a lot of money and a happy return client with referrals. Absolutely. Yeah. So hopefully we answered your questions. Yes. And again, thank you for checking out Miller Moves Homes. I’m James Miller of Howard Hanna. And if you want to call me directly, I can be reached at (440) 222-0403.
Thanks, and have a great day. Thanks, Maria. Thanks James!
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