Biggest Bang For Your Buck | Simple Updates

Happy Wednesday, Friends!

The Denver real estate market has been nothing but HOT, HOT, HOT lately. For the past 6 years to be exact, but who’s counting. We’ve recently experienced a slight “shift” in our market, or a “correction” as some are calling it. Not a cool down, just not so crazy hot where houses sell for way over asking price, within 4 hours of going on the market, and giving up your first born to make the deal work (1 year ago, that was not an exaggeration. Sigh.)

My sellers approached me recently and asked what they could do to make their home standout against the others for sale in the neighborhood. Since the market has “corrected” a little, we’re seeing a bit more inventory (meaning more homes for sale and more homes for buyers to choose from), so making your home standout is key. The other homes for sale, comps we’ll call them, were all nice, but no real updates. They were built in the early 2000’s and really hadn’t been updated since. Think, oak everywhere-cabinets, floors, banisters, etc, black appliances, vinyl flooring, standard black granite (sorry mom and dad, I know it was cool back then!). Most of the comps were bigger than my clients home, had a bigger garage, bigger basement, but again, no updates.

After crunching numbers and talking about the comps in the neighborhood, my sellers decided to invest the money into a kitchen remodel. Nothing fancy and over-the-top, but something that would make their home standout and give them a good return.  We went back and forth with options that would appeal to the largest buyer pool. Not only did my sellers have really good design taste to begin with, they are also super handy, so were able to do all the work themselves (which obviously saved a lot for their bottom line).

Here are some before shots from when they purchased the home about 1.5 years ago:

See what I mean, OAK. EVERYWHERE. The appliances were old, they had the standard black granite (granite tiles, nonetheless) and there was definitely no “pizzazz” in this home.

And now, the after pictures! Such a huge difference!

So, what did they do, and how much did it cost? And more important, how did it reflect in the profit they made on the sale of their home? Here’s the breakdown:

• Countertops-White Quartz: $2,400
• Countertop-Butcher Block Island: $300
• Backsplash (tile, grout, mortar): $120
• Wood (island): $150
• Crown molding (upper cabinets): $30
• Black cabinet paint: $80
• White cabinet paint: $40
• Primer: $40
• Faucet: $100
• Appliances $2,650
• TOTAL investment: $5,910

When we first started talking about listing their home, we were talking something in the $510,000-$515,000 range. I said if they did the kitchen updates, we could probably push the list price closer to $550,000. WHAT! Spend about $6,000 in updates, but make another $35,000?! Yes, please! It was a no-brainer. We knew we were taking a risk at that price, but in the end, it all paid off. In addition to their kitchen remodel, my sellers have really good taste in decorating. All of that helped them to get an offer in the very first weekend their home was listed (with the “correction” of the market right now, average days on market is closer to 30 days). Not only did they get a fast offer, but it was all cash, full price, and the buyers wanted to close ASAP! It was everything my sellers were looking for.

If you’re thinking of selling, and think your home may need some updates, please reach out to me so we can discuss options, cost vs. gain and what makes the most sense for your home. Simple updates have the potential to yield a big return!

And, because this house was so damn cute, click here for the full virtual tour link!

Lindsay