Sellers are going to great lengths these days to get an edge in the market.  They’re now competing with homeowners doing short sales and banks selling foreclosed properties.  So what’s a seller to do?

For a complete list of tips on how to sell in a slower market, check out this informative article: 7 Keys to Selling in a Slower Market.  In this post, I’ll talk about one idea for getting an edge in the real estate market: renovations.

An article the other day in Canada’s Times Colonist newspaper talked about bathroom renovations gone awry: “Thomas Tripodi says he'll never forget the Versace designer bathroom in the house he was marketing for $4 million-plus. ‘It was waaay over the top,’ says Tripodi, associate broker with Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate in Long Beach and owner of The Tripodi Group, which sells luxury homes.  So while that bathroom obviously appealed to the owners, prospective buyers were turned off, Tripodi says.”

Zillow.com has a really cool feature -- Dueling Digs -- that allows readers to browse through pictures of renovations and even vote on their favorites.  It’s interesting that the most highly ranked bathrooms are fancy, to be sure, but they’re not over-designed, so they fit a wider range of people’s tastes.  As you get into the 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th-ranked bathrooms, the designs become much more personalized.  Not over-the-top Versace, but maybe not the best idea for a person looking to sell their home.

From the Times Colonist article: “Like kitchens, bathrooms -- those essential, private spaces -- are rooms buyers scrutinize most closely when shopping for a house, real estate agents say. And in today's buyer's market, sellers need to tread carefully. It's important not to do too much -- making something too quirky or personal, like that Versace bathroom, or spending so much they risk pushing their price too high.”

So that’s the key, then: make sure your bathroom is clean, tasteful, nicely decorated, but not too personalized.  You want all of your prospective buyers to be able to imagine themselves soaking in your garden tub. 

In getting your bathroom to that point, remember not to spend too much.  With any kind of renovation, you’ll never recoup 100% of the cost when you sell your home.  Still, even if you only recoup 60% or 70% of the cost of your bathroom renovation, if it makes the difference between not selling your home and selling it, that’s priceless, right?