We’ve all seen those fashion faux pas: muscle shirts that only accentuate middle-age spread, or tight, low-cut jeans that turn soccer moms into muffin-top casualties.
According to MSN Real Estate and bankrate.com, you can make a home unfashionable in the same way by choosing the wrong pre-sale improvements.
Few real-estate agents will object to any upgrades made to your house prior to putting it on the market. But rushing ahead with improvements you think will elevate the asking price can seriously deplete financial reserves that should be used to fix more fundamental flaws.
Making targeted improvements
There are age-appropriate makeovers based on the vintage of your home that may yield a faster sale at a better price. Such targeted improvements also save you money when compared to full-monty, state-of-the-art renovations throughout the home.
A great starting point, says Sid Davis, a Salt Lake City real-estate broker and author of “Home Makeovers That Sell,” is to spring for a pre-sale home inspection. At an average cost of $300 to $350, you can find your home’s flaws, have a handyman fix them and document the work in a pre-sale buyer’s folder.
And to uncover the top age-appropriate home improvements and repairs, Bankrate asked Combs, LeForce, Davis and Wendy Patton (co-author of “Making Hard Cash in a Soft Real Estate Market“) to share their suggestions for houses by era: pre-1960s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Here’s a quick list of upgrades for the ages and what you should look for first to avoid a home-makeover misstep:
Read on for the full story and further explainations.
