Home Renovations that make sense and build equity!

Pictured below is my son, Finn, helping me put holds on the climbing wall we built him.

Hey everyone. This is Reggie Powell, Realtor with KW SacMetro. I am your Yolo county real estate expert, specializing in Winters, Woodland, Davis, and West Sacramento.

This is just a short article on home renovation. My son is always eager to help me with his tools when I’m in the middle of a project, as you can see in the picture.

Over the years, my wife and I have bought and fixed up many houses. In fact, I have never bought a home that was “turn key.” All of the homes I have bought have needed pretty major work done. Initially, My wife and I did all of the work ourselves. The main reason for doing it ourselves was to save money, but I also wanted to know how to do all the renovations. After buying our current home, I actually got a call from the county appraiser asking how we got it for such a low price. Of course, the sales price doesn’t reflect all the money we’ve put into it upgrading the home.

Our current house has been completely remodeled. We did new paint inside and out, remodeled both bathrooms, installed new electrical, added new HVAC, remodeled the kitchen, and the list goes on. We’ve put in a little over $60,000 in renovation costs and now it is exactly the home we wanted. Another benefit to buying a fixer is there is no wasted product. You don’t feel bad ripping out cabinets when they don’t work. A bathroom remodel is a no brainer when the shower tiles fall off when you touch them. If you buy a fixer upper, you get to make it your own and spend as much or as little as you want.

One thing we did not take into account when doing our remodel was our new life as a family with kids running around. Things take a lot more abuse now. Drawers and cabinets get opened about 5,000 more times than normal. Furniture gets dragged around the floor more than I ever planned on. Daily. Doors get open and shut all the time and anything with a button or switch gets turned on or off hundreds of times. Fortunately for us, all the renovations we did are still holding up to the abuse.

Before you make any decision to renovate, make sure it fits within your lifestyle and budget. If you have a fully functional kitchen that still meets your needs, you don’t need to redo it just because an article says it’s the best renovation to make. That said, I have attached an article on the top renovations to make in you home to get a higher sales price below. There is now more inventory on the market and buyers have a lot more choices out there when they’re looking around for a home. And if you have no intention of selling, this article is still a good read to see what renovations are considered the most valuable.

Click here for the full article