Which Home Upgrades Aren't Worth Making?

I frequently get asked questions about home upgrades and the
returns they may or may not bring. Many people wonder whether
they’ll get the money they invest into improving their home back.
The simple answer is that upgrades don’t always equate to a profit.
Upgrades that seem valuable to you may not be valuable to potential
buyers. Knowing what kind of upgrades are and aren’t worth the
effort is essential. So today, I’ve got five common upgrades you
should avoid. For as common as these upgrades are, they actually
have some of the worst return on investment, according to an
article by Trulia. 1. Adding a swimming pool. This upgrade can be
hit or miss. One of the biggest factors that goes into determining
whether or not adding a pool will be a good investment is location.
If you are selling a home in Florida, or anywhere else a pool might
be used year-round, a pool will be more likely to have a better
return. However, even in circumstances like these it’s unlikely you
will exceed or even earn back the money you invested in installing
the pool to begin with. 2. Highly personalized or customized
designs. When something about your home is too personalized, you
are vastly decreasing the number of people who will find it
appealing. Unless you are going to be staying in your home for
years upon years to come, you should avoid making design choices
that are too risky. Buyers’ tastes won’t always align with your
own.  This causes issues not only in attracting buyers, but in
other ways as well. Buyers looking at a home that is too customized
will take into consideration the cost of changing features that
simply aren’t their style. If that price isn’t worth it to them,
you’ll be losing a lot of offers. “Upgrades that seem valuable to
you may not be valuable to potential buyers.” 3. Room
conversions.When buyers search for homes, they do so with a
checklist in mind. They’ll often be seeking out a certain number of
bedrooms and bathrooms. If you’ve converted one of these spaces
into something unusual, you’re actually harming your home’s resale
value. 4. Incremental square footage gains. While making
significant gains in square footage is a good upgrade to make in
your home, smaller gains aren’t really worth it. Insignificant
square footage gains aren’t like you much return on your
investment. Placement, also, is important. Even though a half bath
on the first floor might be nice, buyers will be put off if they
have to walk through or directly past it to get to the kitchen, for
example. 5. Over-improving.While this may seem counter-intuitive,
you don’t want to be the highest-priced home in the neighborhood.
If you have the most expensive property around, your investment
isn’t as likely to be returned. When making upgrades, keep your
neighborhood’s baseline in mind. Overall, there’s nothing wrong
with making improvements to your home because you enjoy doing them.
The important thing to remember is not to give yourself the false
hope that all of these upgrades will bring valuable returns when it
comes time to sell. If you have any other questions or would like
more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.