By Patricia Spangler
Are you an HGTV junkie ready to gut your home and spiff it to high-design for resale? You’ve probably heard kitchens and bathrooms sell houses – yes, but they don’t always pay for themselves! Keep it simple with your focus on things that will give you a bang for your buck. Some helpful websites for ideas and planning costs are Houzz, Pinterest, Home Advisor and Homewyse. YouTube can help with demonstration videos on everything DIY.
You might be tempted to spend on trendy updates, especially after binge-watching flipping shows, but reign it in and stick to inexpensive updates that the largest pool of people will appreciate. Touch up paint inside and out or entirely repaint if your current colors are less neutral or looking worn or dingy. Fresh paint feels clean. Replace older lighting and fixtures with new
styles and add some tech-savvy smart home features. A new kitchen backsplash can be money well-spent, and carrying the style into bathrooms creates a cohesive flow. Spruce up gardens with a few colorful plants, flowers and fresh mulch. These are all relatively simple and cost-effective do-it-yourself projects that will vastly improve a first impression.
You might be tempted to spend on trendy updates, especially after binge-watching flipping shows, but reign it in and stick to inexpensive updates that the largest pool of people will appreciate.
Larger projects you may consider can be more budget-friendly via partial or entire DIY depending on the job and your skill level. For example, consider painting kitchen and bathroom cabinets and replacing hardware, or possibly refacing rather than replacing. According to HomeAdvisor.com, median cost to professionally reface a kitchen in Brevard is $4,212. Kitchen appliances
may also be a good investment if yours are dinosaurs.
Popcorn ceilings can dissuade some buyers so you might want to refinish them. Assuming your home is not pre-1978, when asbestos was possibly used, DIY removal is ambitious but doable. Home Advisor calculates this will save an average $1,030 in Brevard. According to the remodel calculator on homewyse.com, hiring a local contractor to then refinish ceilings with
knockdown texture will cost an average of $1.22 per square foot.
Some renovations are better left undone if you are looking for a prompt return on investment. However, if you’re planning to stay in your home a few more years, go ahead and splurge on some little luxuries. They will certainly help sell your home in the future, but you’ll have more time to realize overall home appreciation and, at the same time, enjoy the upgrades yourself.
