Working Smarter, Not Harder
Here’s a question: will indulging what you want now help you achieve the goals you seek later? Or put it another way: say you’re eating a delicious bowl of sugary, marshmallow-filled Lucky Charms. Do you eat the marshmallows first, eat them equally with the healthy grain cereal, or eat all the cereal first so you can have a big bowl of only marshmallows at the end?
See, if you do all the hard, undesirable work first, what you’re left with are only fruits — only “treats”, if you will. If, instead of remodeling your home to the “nth” degree (such that it’s luxurious, perfect, and costs you an arm and a leg), you instead strategically approach remodel solutions that add value to your property, you’re giving yourself marshmallows.
The other approach would be remodeling so you break even in terms of property value expansion and associated costs. That’s like eating the sugary bits with the cereal, if you will. Whether you want to have the good things up front and pay later, take the good and bad together, or do the hard stuff first so you can enjoy the easy life later, is up to you.
Regardless, the most intelligent approach will be maximizing the value of your home after you’re done remodeling. This makes each remodeling effort an investment in your property. Following, we’ll explore several remodeling ideas that can produce more value than they cost to get done, ultimately giving you better living premises and assets simultaneously.
1. Maximizing Property: Basements, Attics, Garages, Sheds
A lot of properties have unfinished basements—unless you’re in California, where basements are rare. However, attics aren’t rare on the west coast, and these are often unused or strewn with garbage. Garages additionally become repositories for junk, as can sheds. First, clean out the junk. Have a garage sale with what’s salable, throw away what isn’t, keep any “finds.”
Next, clean the premises, apply paint, finish the walls if they need it, install wallpaper, put in a rug. With a shed, you can turn that outside space into an insulated man-cave, apartment, or secondary residence for the mother-in-law. You might even make a “tiny home” back there and feature that in your property listing. You can build a nice tiny home for under $10k, and it’ll definitely add more than that to the property value. Consider the market, and if this is the right choice for you. Still, a little gravel for a driveway, utility hookups, and a several-week build can produce a fine tiny home expanding property value. The kids will love it, too—just teach them to clean up after themselves if you can.
2. RTA Cabinetry
RTA stands for Ready To Assemble. RTA cabinets can be purchased online in a “commissioned” sort of way such that they ship you cabinets which fit the space of your home. This has become a big trend in remodeling. It’s cost-effective, the results are qualitative, and the value can be greater than your expenses, if you’re savvy.
You’ll want to look into means of vetting certain RTA options. Some of the most appreciated RTA cabinets will come with a positive word from those who’ve purchased them — for example, look at this Forevermark ice white shaker cabinet review.
3. Implementation Of Property-Friendly Tech
Solar energy arrays can expand property value between $5k after purchase and installation, and $15k, for a total value increase of $10k to $20k. The average is a little over $16k, excluding solar panel costs. Installation of solar panels isn’t that hard. Mount them on the best part of your home in terms of sunlight — basically you just screw the mounts in.
Make sure you run the right cables to the right surge controller, and from there, to the right battery array. From the battery array, you’ll run a power inverter. You’re going to be looking at around 30 to 50 panels, depending on energy needs and the size of your home.
Each panel will be about 100 Watts, and cost around $1 a Watt. $3,100 gets you 31 panels for 3.1 kWh, another $1,900 gets you mounting brackets, cables, inverters, surge controllers, and batteries. A weekend gets the job done. Do this properly right before you sell and bump up the value of your premises by a minimum of $10k, and as high as $20k, essentially doubling or quadrupling your investment.
4. Landscaping, General Repair And Upkeep
Lawns, bushes, trees, flowers, and vegetables — what works best for you? Figure it out, and then husband that foliage perpetually. Installation of sprinkler arrays can help you do this with less hassle. A well-landscaped property with a built-in sprinkler system can increase associated property value. What’s more, you can put something like that together relatively affordably.
Expanding Property Value And Utility Through Remodel
Smart remodeling involves finding areas where you’ll get money back on your investment. Bedrooms, kitchens, and bathrooms can be good remodel ideas; but they can be costly, too. Weigh existing resources and options, and determine if you want to forestall appreciation of your labors, or take them up-front.
Landscaping, technology, space maximization, and RTA cabinetry represent several exceptional remodeling tactics that deliver solid value for their cost. Consult landscaping and construction contractors to determine other areas of remodel conducive to profit for your home.
About the author: Wendy Dessler is an outreach manager and blogger.
If you are like me, you are nursing a serious Halloween hangover.
Maybe you took too many sips from the witch’s cauldron or, in my case, ate all of your kids’ candy after they went to sleep?
While we can’t help with that, we can help take some of the pain out of remodeling your home.
CNBC has a great article outlining four steps that will make your home renovation a little less painful.
The article reminds everyone to perform due diligence on the contractors, review your contract, ensure permits are obtained, and pay bills on time.
It may sound straightforward, but you would be surprised how many people don’t honor each step.
As far as what projects you should undertake, Reader’s Digest has you covered with its article on the best projects to get done before winter.
Granted the Valley doesn’t get a true winter, but all of the projects in the article are great places to start.
Some of the best projects mentioned in the article include master suite upgrades, HVAC replacement, new flooring, or a closet renovation.
If kitchens are more your thing, then check out these seven kitchen remodeling ideas from AZ Big Media.
Have a good week!
We’ve talked before about remodeling inspiration, and how to search far and wide for new ideas. But not many people think of starting from the floor up.
Flooring is the subject of this article from a Corpus Christi television station website.
The article lists five major reasons for upgrading your flooring, including adding luxurious heated floors, repairing damaged or worn carpet, modernizing the look, cutting down on allergens and molds by switching from carpet to flooring, and remodeling for resale.
Speaking of remodeling, there is a discussion about the difference between remodeling and renovating. (For our purposes, we use them interchangeably.)
None other than Bob Vila, the man himself, offers that “remodeling” should be reserved for extensive work that includes changing structures and designs, while “renovating” means making updates that do not change the intended purpose of the room. But you do you, boo.
An extensive and expensive mistake was made by a remodeling company in Kansas City when they tore the roof off the wrong house.
According to the Fox TV affiliate there, a remodeling company was sent to the wrong house by the contractor. Once they realized their mistake, the remodeler left, promising it would be fixed.
But now the remodeler and the contractor are fighting over who should be at fault for the mixup, and the poor couple still doesn’t have a roof over their vacant house after two months.
Just another reason you should be grateful to have a roof over your head.
Have a great week!
