Does Remodeling Really Increase Your Home’s Value?

The real estate market is hot. If you own property, you might be considering selling and taking advantage of today’s soaring prices. With inflation well over 15% in many areas, it’s wise to reap the rewards.

You want to get the biggest bang for your buck if you do jump ship — after all, moving is a headache. Does remodeling really increase your home’s value? Here’s what you should know before you list.

How Remodeling Can Increase Your Home’s Value

Removing the bodies from the basement is a must before you sell. Okay — that was a joke. However, improving what lies beneath the stairs is a worthy remodel to consider if you want to increase your home’s value in Arizona’s hot, desert climate zones. Underground spaces tend to stay comfortably cool all summer long, even without AC.

For example, adding a bathroom to your basement wows buyers, enabling them to see the space as their future man-cave, craft room or children’s play area. Young parents won’t have to worry about their little one navigating the stairs when nature calls.

Upgrading for a New Generation

Maximizing your home’s energy efficiency increases its value by making it more appealing to the next generation of homebuyers. Many millennials and Generation Z members say they’ll pay more for sustainability.

You can start by taking down dark curtains and expanding opportunities for natural light, letting prospective buyers see the potential for passive solar. If you have a bit more in the remodeling kitty, why not consider investing in smart windows that become opaque after dark and partially so in bright sunlight but translucent during cool days to take advantage of the sun.

You could also upgrade to solar — there’s still time to take advantage of tax incentives, but the expiration date grows near. Ceiling fans minimize the need to operate your HVAC system, and a compost bin is a nice touch if you have garden space. Small details, like installing dimmer switches, also produce energy savings.

Easy Upgrades With a High ROI

Some upgrades are a snap for nearly anyone to do and cost pennies — like painting. You can tackle most interior rooms in a single day. It might take a bit longer to do the outside, but minor touch ups make a big difference. If you can’t redo the whole house, freshen up your front door, garage and shutters.

Are your window boxes devoid of flowers? Sprucing up your landscaping shouldn’t take much longer than a single weekend day unless you have significant brush to clear. Trim back bushes to no taller than three feet to deter thieves and consider a few cacti underneath windows to make climbing in one a painful prospect.

Epoxying your garage floor and coating your driveway are two final chores you can finish in a single weekend. You’ll need a day with no rain in the forecast and around $300 to $500 to complete either job unless you have a lot of car space.

Remodeling Projects You Can Probably Skip

If you’re remodeling to increase your home’s value, some projects simply won’t put as much green back in your pocket as you spend in sweat equity and cold, hard cash. For example, while you should upgrade an outdated kitchen, painting your cabinets is the perfect alternative to ripping them all out and starting from scratch. After all, there’s no guarantee the buyer will appreciate your taste and you can still enlarge a small space with the right sunny shade.

While you should have your rugs professionally cleaned, hold off on replacing your floor unless it has obvious holes or other obvious signs of wear. Many buyers have strong preferences for hardwood over carpet or vice-versa and there’s no way to tell which one you may attract.