Is Your Home Improvement Project Worth the Cost?

“Should I redo my kitchen or bathrooms? Should I install hardwood floors? What’s the best way to
get the best return for the money I invest?”

I hear questions like these quite a lot, so today I’d like to talk about costs versus values when it
comes to making changes to your home.

According to the Appraiser’s Board, there’s very little you can do to actually increase the
value of your home. If a renovation costs $50,000, you’ll probably get only about $30,000 back.

So what’s the point? If you spend that money, you might sell your home faster, your agent
and buyer might be happy, but YOU have lost money.

“

Many times you can recover your investment and then some, but you have to consider the
update on its own terms.

”

On an individual basis, you can often actually recover your investment and then some, but you have to consider the update on its own terms. For example, if you were to redo your counters, that
might cost around $5,000 to $8,000 and you’d likely get that back. But if you redo the whole
kitchen, you probably won’t get a full return.

So is it worth it? Sometimes it is and many times it isn’t

If you have any questions about whether or not a project you have in mind will yield a high return,
please feel free to reach out to me. I’d love to give you advice based on your individual circumstances.

How Have Rising Interest Rates Impacted the Market?

Interest rates—mortgage interest rates, to be specific—have increased four or five times in
last 60 to 90 days.

Mind you, they’re going up little bits at a time, but the big question is whether it’s really affecting
the market.

The answer is: not yet, but they will—interest rates always change the market. So far, I haven’t
seen any major impacts yet.

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You still have loads of time to get your home on the market and get it sold.

”

We’re still selling just as many homes. We’re still as short on inventory as we have been.

You still have loads of time to get your home on the market and get it sold. For buyers, rates haven’t yet increased so much that you won’t be able to purchase, so start looking now!

If you have any specific questions, please reach out to me. I’d love to help you

Don’t List Your Home as For Sale By Owner

Do you need to hire a real estate agent even if the market is doing well? Yes, and there are three reasons why.

A lot of people have been saying, “The market is so good right now. Why do I need to hire a real estate agent? Why not sell my home myself?”

There are a number of reasons why you should hire a real estate agent to sell your home. I’ll go over three of them today: 

1. Price. Price depends on exposure. The more people who know your home is on the market, the better your price is going to be. If nobody knows your home is on the market, then your price is going to be lower. According to the National Association of Realtors, agent-assisted sales get 15% to 16% more money than For Sale By Owner homes. After you pay the 6% commission to the agent, you will still end up with 9% or 10% more than you would get selling on your own. 

90% of real estate litigation involves For Sale By Owner transactions.

2. Properly executed documents. An agent has been taught to do these things properly. Why? We don’t want to do anything improper and get sued. In fact, 90% of real estate litigation out there involves For Sale By Owner transactions. 

3. After closing, you won’t hear from the buyer when you list with an agent because we have settled everything at closing. When you do a For Sale By Owner transaction, you may have to unnecessarily hear from the buyer after closing. 


I have been selling homes for 32 years, and I can certainly help you sell your home this spring. If you have any other real estate questions for me, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!