Home Improvements with the Worst ROI

[@MiamiPush2theLimit]

I’m from Florida. The most important things for me were 1. No HOA 2. Hurricane Impact windows 3. Tile throughout.

[@bigcahuna42366]

I would add wallpaper as a #6. It starts to peel off when it gets old, many designs give the eyesore effect, and it's difficult to remove if the buyer thinks it's ugly. Painting walls a solid neutral color is always a winner.

[@len2972]

I will never buy a house with wallpaper again.

[@stoneyswolf]

Why are bathrooms so expensive to have done? I did mine myself only cost 1 grand replaced everything contractors make me sick.

[@winnemucca-sk5392]

really? the materials for our shower cost that alone. we got our tile cheap, the vanity wasn't cheap though. I do find that if you do it yourself it is worth the cost.

[@Gzluweez]

The person who makes the most money buys an ok house in an up and coming area, sits back, does min maintenance. Price goes up anyway. Yep, that’s right.

[@firefalcoln]

The other expense of having a pool is the headache of figuring out which people coming over actually want to be your friends and which ones just want to use the pool. 😂

[@goodenoughgirl8102]

That’s the kind of problem I’m having with a lot of things around this larger house (even tho we don’t have a pool lol). And why I’m majorly downsizing. They can’t get blood out of what they think is a turnip. 😅😅. But more importantly, you find out who your real friends are.

[@cozmicmojo2181]

Agree with most. But not replacing carpet could hurt you in the walkthroughs. People don't get the warm and fuzzies when they see they're walking on ragged carpet. ROI doesn't mean as much if potential buyers never get past the walkthrough.

[@Ocyla]

Bigtime. My dad had dark blue, worn looking carpet. He replaced it with a neutral color and it made all the difference in the world.

[@cozmicmojo2181]

@@Ocyla I can imagine. Huge.

[@jamesballard6564]

You carpet the bedrooms only. The common area remains tile or wood. Best way to hedge your bets.

[@diatribe5]

The seller of the house I’m living in thought it was a good idea to try to turn a regular tub into a garden tub, and it’s so annoying, because the faucet is still in the original spot, the spout too short, so water goes everywhere around the tub. As if that wasn’t enough, she had the tub drain moved to a different side and there’s no lever for the drain. In the upstairs bathroom, she replaced a sink with a counter and storage cabinet with a pedestal sink! I hate it. The toilet paper holder is all the way across from the toilet because there’s no cabinet next to it where it was originally located. As for kitchens, I’m so against those open plans where a wall with cabinets and counter space was just gutted out. I feel left out on the carpet thing, because I’m having no luck finding a home with wall to wall carpeting. I, and my cat, hate hard, slippery, cold flooring that echoes.

[@TRUTHbomb2.0]

I bought my home to raise my kids in not thinking of resale value. We have not upgraded much but do a ton of maintenance. We do not follow the trends, we have made this house suit us. When it comes time to sell when we are too old to keep up, we have a couple things that hopefully will make it desirable like a detached garage that adds 5 extra vehicle parking areas, a large deck 40' x14', and 5 acres of land that has lots of privacy. More than likely we may end up selling to one of our kids when we decide to downsize. I know that is every parents wish but in reality it might be the only way one of our kids could get this kind of garage space to have a nice workshop and enough parking and storage and not have to wait forever for that rarity to come on the market.

[@petebusch9069]

Nobody does the jobs that actually make a property better. Fix the grade, cut the crappy trees down, update the attic insulation, fix ALL the electric and plumbing issues, fix or maintain the windows and doors, deal with the specific weird problem that your house has, replace the driveway and sidewalks, build a deck worth owning, put in quality mechanicals, etc... None of this adds cash value to your home but adds real value and is what makes for a quality home or property. Realtors can't get buyers to see past this and end up selling a house with a pretty kitchen with a TON of issues easily adding up to 100k thinking they are doing the buyer justice. Then we wonder why many people are not happy with their new home. The fact is, most homes need around 100k to bring them up to the quality most people want.

[@DoctorDification]

AGREED! Having worked for the ultra rich who usually demand quality in everything its difficult to look at the hack work with which many people just sort of poorly gift wrap houses. On a side job with friends flipping a nice cape cod in Trenton, NJ, we brought our Hamptons A-Game and put in the real work like refinishing hardwood floors and also cleaning up the huge cellar with paint and plenty of light instead of the dark scary dungeon. All the realtors were silenced when we sold it with One showing at full price for $30K over what they all said should be the listing price. We had viewed all the "restored" listings people were flipping and most were barely cleaned up so we knew our listing would shine like a new house compared to the halfassery being offered

[@petebusch9069]

@@DoctorDification Real Estate agents are the one who caused this problem, They set up a system for selling houses that does not take into account the quality of the property and house. They purposely cover up all the shortcomings as a way to avoid educating people about the reality of home ownership. Literally ANYTHING to make the sale.

[@VulcanLogic]

I'm from a rural market, and custom pole buildings are by far the worst investment here. I've seen people spend $100k-$250k on them. While nice, there's a guy down the road with your same house and acreage and a depreciated pole building that will fill the buyer's needs for $80-220k less. In my market, even the best pole building will add only about $30k in contributory value, often much less. I tell people if they want something like this, plan on living here for a long time. And they generally do, so that's fine.

[@johns80schick]

As far as the expensive kitchen reno I would say it depends where you live. I am from MA and if someone is looking to buy a home say in the North Shore, that home better have a top of the line kitchen with all luxury appliances. But if you live in an area where the average home price is middle of the road then yeah you won't make your money back on an expensive kitchen. All these improvements depend on where you live and what is important in your housing market.

[@ericthomsen9644]

As a former house flipper we knew that there were things that HAD to be done to make the house quickly turnable. Kitchen and bathroom were musts. The rest of it is usually clean, paint, refinish. A bit of landscaping gives big bang for the bucks. Carpet in bedrooms only.

[@petebusch9069]

I'm a home inspector and have never seen a flipped house that was worth it. Flipping is nothing more than adding perceived value that doesn't do anyone any good because a real contractor will have to go through everything again ending up costing the buyer more money. You people do shit work and you know it.

[@LtDan-rf9mx]

@@petebusch9069I totally agree with you 100%. As an electrician I am always dealing with the unfortunate people that bought these flip homes. I hate the dangerous code violations the flippers leave behind. I would never buy a flipped house unless I plan on tearing it down.

[@petebusch9069]

@@LtDan-rf9mx So many of my reports say to hire an electrician to go through every outlet, switch, and junction box and repair as needed, basically a thorough once over of the entire system. Its not worth doing a detailed report of each issue at each j box, electricians do not need that level of detail and can figure it out on their own.

[@I_Eat_Meat12345]

Don't forget the gray paint on the walls and white paint on the cabinets 😒

[@apple-guy9394]

This is why we went with an above ground pool.. we use it for as long we decide we don’t want it and just remove in the future.. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@jvgauthier]

My top list of renos that will sell. In no specific order, for whateer my opinion is worth : 1) paint & hard floor varnish 2) major clean-up 3) repairs/renos that actually needs to be done. Anything that is broken, that leaks, that is visibly rotten, what have you. By all mean, fix it. Or have it professionally fix. Someone will correct me : these repairs won't boost the price, but will prevent it from dropping more than it needs. 4) doors. Painted or replaced altogether. depending on the conditions 5) Door knobs, light switches, electricity outlets, door hinges, faucets, all the little hardwares here and there. Look around for anything old, worn out, beaten up, that could use a facelift. 6) Light fixtures. Within reason. 7) kitchens and bathrooms *IF* they are old, beaten up, not compliant to the code, etc. 8) Outside renos : New garage door. New fence, basic landscaping,

[@goodenoughgirl8102]

Things I take a quick pass on. Carpet, wallpaper, high maintenance anything,houses that are way overpriced and too big (again too much cleaning and maintenance), poor quality cheap finishes, neglected, filthy, rundown rental properties and not well done baseboards. In “deal land” I really would consider looking at homes that have cleaned up and stripped the old crap out and give me a blank canvas to work with. If priced accordingly, of course. I’d much rather see what’s “under there” than have a crappy or cheap redo that I then have to undo plus redo. It makes for easier “good bones” inspection and cuts my future work way down. Of course I’m talking about cosmetics and surface stuff only. Lol. Bout to finally close now and so the way I made my own affordable housing road was to consider lower cost locations, (edge of town or off the beaten path a bit, semi rural etc), imperfect or slightly “incomplete” but good bones places and looking for less square footage/downsizing.

[@monah5532]

I really love to cook. That said, I don't get the obsession with kitchens and bathrooms. Typical listing has 52 pics of kitchen and bathrooms, and maybe 2 or 3 of the garden. Perhaps I'm weird, but I'd rather spend my time in the garden than in the bathroom or kitchen.

[@petebusch9069]

You maintain and renovate your home for the same reason you bathe and brush your teeth. Its the right thing to do and living any other way is just wrong. It has nothing to do with money and has everything to do with making your part of the world a nice place. We can either have a neighborhood of dumpy houses or nice houses, its up to YOU. To make the world a better place its starts with looking in the mirror.

[@gertieriemer7548]

All excellent suggestions. We did some of those for our home and got a good return when we sold

[@jamesheartney9546]

Our master bathroom is original to the (spec) house, and is over 25 years old. There's a leak under the shower (onto the living room ceiling) and the whirlpool bath no longer works, and has flaking hardware. I don't want to show the house like that, so we'll have to update it if we want to sell for a non "as-is" price. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@anthonys5568]

So you. are saying the Elvis "Jungle Room" is maybe not great outside of Memphis?

[@ningjing1113]

thank you so much, I am debating whether I should replace the shower or flooring, looks like replacing the bamboo flooring with hardwood is the wiser.

[@lshwadchuck5643]

Good to know. I just replaced my forced air oil furnace with a central heat pump. That seems like something that in Canada would be a plus.

[@Ozarklivingbellavistashrimp]

we have a sunroom and we will in the South. It's a big plus,.

[@Tanya_716]

What about basement remodel

[@JackieBaker]

Not the best return

[@namkim54]

How about best five?

[@JackieBaker]

Coming soon!

[@TRUTHbomb2.0]

I understand all the germaphobes hating carpeting BUT I know so many people with dogs who WISH they did not have to buy rugs for every square inch of wood flooring to stop their dog from splaying or scratching up and ruining the wood flooring. I guess I am weird. We WANT carpet in the living rooms/halls and family rooms and wood in the bedrooms where we only need to buy a couple small rugs.

[@BillyBobDingledorf]

A swimming pool will make me walk away from a house.

[@kofiadosprempeh6965]

Buying a home in Montgomery, Al for 355.🤷🏿‍♂️

[@lisatowe778]

I would have expected a sunroom to be more valuable in the north where you may not get as much outside time and the room can be an indoor outdoor Love your tips!

[@lshwadchuck5643]

In rural Canada a screened-in porch is a must in my books, but it doesn't have to be a high end solarium.

[@tycobb2580]

her recommendations are controversial? ?fr?

[@ronin2963]

Table of contents please

[@billyboy8772]

Pools are very expensive. I have one. Good thing I'm rich.

[@StrongPoliticalViews]

I agree with everything except for the hard wood floors. I'm one of the weird ones who loves carpet in the house. I also like Spanish tile in the kitchen and dining room. The bathroom would be marble.