In my last three blogs I discussed the top 20 ways to improve the value of your home. Now a couple things to consider before you do any improvement:

1)     Look at how long you are going to be in your home. Some improvements are imperative to make to get your home in sellable condition. Other improvements should only be made if you plan on being in your home for a while.

2)   Check out your Neighborhood. You never want to improve beyond the value of your neighborhood. Being the biggest or best house on the block is not the best thing for resale.

3)   Check out your Market. What is the current housing market in your area? Who is the potential buyer of your home when you do go to sell?

4)   Don’t design yourself into a corner by being too specific. You don’t want to limit who you can sell to. Personalize your home through paint and accessories that are easy to change rather than having to replace walls.

5)    Balance your style and area. Again, keep in mind what will sell in the future if you choose to do so?

If you are planning to make improvements and potentially sell in a shorter period of time, check out the statistics listed on my website on the return on your investment for certain improvements. It can be found at: http://roomswithstyle.com/reasons.html

If you have made any mistakes in your home improvements that you would like to share with others so they don’t make the same ones, please do so. What is your horror story in home improvements? Or, what was your biggest success? I’d love to hear.

In the next blog I am going to talk about MYTHS in home improvements.

In my last blog I discussed in more detail improvements #20 – #11, now let’s look at the top 10!

#10   Basement Remodel – Basements do not have to feel like basements. No one enjoys being in a dark dungeon or a 1970’s paneled room with orange shag carpet. Make it a room your family will love to be in.

# 9    Add a Deck – You don’t want your deck to be more than one-third of the square footage of your house. Bigger is not better in this case. You normally get only a 76% return on this investment so you must plan on living in your home awhile to consider this improvement.

# 8    Major Bathroom Remodel – This means all things torn out, walls knocked down and pushed back. Basically starting from scratch. If your bathroom is outdated and cramped, especially if it is the master bath, time to get going.

# 7    Paint! Paint! Paint! – The easiest and usually most inexpensive way to change the appearance of your home. If you cannot afford anything else but want a new look, paint. If you are selling and need to freshen up the house, paint. Color choice is important, especially if selling. And no, neutral does NOT mean white!

# 6    Renovate the attic (or the space above the garage) – This is square footage that many times gets forgotten and can be great space for a family. A bonus room, an exercise room you have always wanted, a place for the teenager and their friends to hang out…….

# 5    Add a Second Story Addition – Obviously this is an improvement for when you are sticking around for a while and you love your house, your lot, your neighbors but need more space. This addition usually costs 50% of the cost of the first floor so not a cheap improvement.

# 4    Don’t over Customize Rooms – Especially if you are selling soon or if the customization means knocking down walls and creating a room so specific for your hobby that only one in a million other people can use it.

# 3    Minor Kitchen Remodel – These are the easier things that don’t entail knocking down or pushing back walls. New appliances, change the handles on the cabinets, paint, add a back splash.

# 2    Minor Bathroom Remodel – Here you are keeping the basic footprint of the room but may need to replace the sink, stool or flooring.

And the #1 Best Way to Improve the Value of Your Home…………………………………..

#1     Replace Old Siding – This sets the tone for the house. Yes, you can judge a book by its cover in this case. And as they say, First Impressions, First Impressions, First Impressions.

Now that you know the dos, you really need to pay attention to the don’ts.

In my next blog I am going to talk about being careful with the improvements you make.