To Renovate or Not To Renovate Before You Sell
During normal housing markets, renovations are an important way to add value to a property. However, with so many buyers competing for such a low supply of available homes right now, renovations may not be as critical as they normally would.
1. There aren't enough homes for sale right now.
A normal market has a 6-month supply of houses for sale, but today’s housing inventory sits far below that benchmark. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), there’s only a 1.9-month supply of homes available today. As a result, buyer competition is high, and homes are only on the market for about 21 days, during which time many receive multiple offers from hopeful buyers.
In this market, it may be wise to let future homeowners remodel the bathroom or the kitchen to make design decisions that are best for their specific tastes and lifestyle. As a seller, your dollars and time might be better spent working on small cosmetic updates, like refreshing some paint and power washing the exterior. Overall, spending costly time and money on renovations before you sell might just mean you’ll miss your key window of opportunity. While certain repairs on your house may be important, your best move right now is to work with a real estate professional to determine which improvements are truly necessary, and which ones are not likely to be deal-breakers for buyers.
2. Focus on getting a good return on your investment.
Homeowners getting ready to move should try to avoid over-investing in big renovations if they won’t make that money back when they sell their house. Some homes do need a kitchen or bathroom renovation, roof repairs, or other major work, but definitely not all of them.
Before you renovate, contact us at The Aaronson Group to see if it’s the best course of action. You may find out that putting your house on the market as-is will help you sell quickly, and it may result in the best return on your investment.
