With interest rates at rock bottom and millions of people vacating various cities and states, home sales are obviously booming. This is happening both in the outer suburbs and rural areas, as well as within the confines of the areas where people need to unload their current home in order to make the transition to their new locale.
As is often the case, this means that many of the homes people have been comfortable in for many years now need to be rapidly upgraded to match the demands of a new generation of buyers. Since tearing it down and building a new one from scratch is out of the question, one has to ask what parts of an existing residence are most in need of renovations? Also, what is the best way to allocate scarce remodeling dollars in order to get the biggest return on investment.
Traditionally speaking, one plans on putting the bulk of available remodeling funds into the kitchen and bathrooms. While a lot of good arguments exist for doing so, the truth is that most other rooms don’t consist of much more than paint and carpet so there is only so much you can do to spiff them up. Kitchens and bathrooms have many more opportunities for making a difference, such as new fixtures, countertops and cabinetry, new appliances and if you check the cost of tiling a new bathroom, you will see this is affordable too.
Put another way, it is something of a marriage where you end up putting most of your effort into the rooms that are most capable of being greatly altered from their original appearance. With that said however, the two most important options (kitchen and bath) are not the only places you should consider working on in order to effectively modernize an older house.
Many of this new generation of Americans on the move are white collar workers suddenly unbound from their high-rise prisons and now allowed to work under a sort of halfway house arrangement from home. Nor do most forecasts suggest that this is going to be a passing phase. Catering to this new paradigm can certainly enhance your chances of making a quick sale.
This can be done with only limited additional expenditures over the funds you earmark for the two big renovation rooms. Turning one surplus bedroom into a well-laid-out home office is certainly one of the hottest trends in the home remodeling industry today. Put up some nice wall-length bookcases. Make sure you have proper power and internet connections in the room. Turn that closet into secure storage space for filing cabinets and supplies rather than shoes and winter coats.
This does not mean that you should scrimp on traditional renovations such as kitchen and bathroom renovation efforts. Just understand that there is a new kid on the block when it comes to “must have” amenities in a modern house. Give your house a leg up on the competition. Adding a genuine home office to your floor plan makes it easier for buyers to justify paying for all the effort you spent on making the kitchen sparkle as well.
