If You are Selling Your Prospect CT Home in 2017, Now is the Time to Prepare

If You are Selling Your Prospect CT Home in 2017, Now is the Time to Prepare

For Prospect CT Home owners that are looking to sell their home in 2017, it is essential to make the home as attractive as possible and to ensure that it gets its best exposure. While it is still too cold to do anything outside, the inside of the home can be addressed so as to make it ready for a spring market.

Homeowners must be mindful to not do too much in the way of repairs as the market in Prospect CT has not yet taken a turn to a sellers advantage. Sellers thinking of selling soon will probably want to get as much of their investment back when they sell the home. But when it comes to payback value of home improvements, some are definitely more profitable than others.

As a general rule, kitchen and bathroom projects usually get a nice return on investment, typically 90% or more. Things like adding rooms or finishing basements tend to pay back the least. Finishing a basement usually returns less than 50%, so it’s not a project likely to show profit at selling time.

There are a number of factors that go into determining how well a project will pay back. Payback value depends a lot on the current market conditions here in Prospect CT. As the market has been active, it has not been the type to allow for an overpriced home to get high traffic and the return on the investment of improvements might not be as good as one would expect or hope to receive.

The type of project undertaken and how it fits in with other homes in the area can have a big influence on payback too. If you put your money into the wrong type of improvement, you won’t get your money back.  But if you're smart about what you do, you can make money. The payback will be better on improvements that are in demand and conform to neighborhood standards. Adding a second bathroom in a neighborhood where most homes have two bathrooms will give a high return on investment.   Building a large addition that makes your home twice as big as the other homes on the block probably won’t pay back very well. Likewise, the popularity of a project will factor into how much it pays back. An improvement heavily customized to your wants and needs won’t pay back as well as something more common to other homes in the neighborhood.  

Another factor to consider is the cost of the improvements. If you can do the work yourself, you can save significantly on the cost of the project and greatly improve the chances of getting a good return on the investment. Of course if doing the work oneself, the quality of the job needs to be as good as would be done by a qualified contractor.

The list below is compiled from several published surveys and shows typical payback for some popular remodeling projects:  

• Kitchen remodeling – 90%
• Add a bathroom – 90%
• Bathroom remodeling – 80%
• Install central heating – 90%
• Install central air – 75%
• Add a deck – 70%
• Replace windows – 70%
• Add a room – 55%
• Build a pool – 45%
• Finish a basement – 40%

Of course, it would also help to have an idea of the value of the home in the current market here in Prospect CT. A current Market Evaluation on your home will give you the value of your home and also allow you to determine if the cost to completely remodel will the home will in a price range to allow it to be sold and recover the expense of the work.

We offer free market evaluations to assist you in your sale. If you would like information on homes for sale in Prospect CT please call me at 203-206-0754 or send me an email at easilva48@comcast.net. I would be happy to assist you or to discuss homes on the market in Prospect CT.

If You are Selling Your Prospect CT Home in 2017, Now is the Time to Prepare