Friday, August 12, 2022
Chuck Marunde, J.D., Broker/Owner 360-775-5424


iRealty Virtual Brokers


Broker/Consultant

Washington State

SUBSCRIBE
Light/Dark Toggle
  • Home
  • Search MLS
    • Sequim MLS
    • Sequim MLS Map Search
    • Port Angeles MLS
    • Port Townsend MLS
    • San Juan Islands MLS
    • All Islands MLS
    • How to Search the Sequim MLS
  • Videos
    • Sequim Videos Q&A
    • Buyer Videos Part 1
    • Buyer Videos Part 2
    • Buyer Videos Part 3
    • Buyer Videos Part 4
    • Living in Sequim Video Channel
  • Books
    • Sequim Real Estate for Buyers (Free eBook Updates Forever)
    • Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide (Paperback)
    • Escaping California to The San Juan Islands
      • Menu Below
    • Buying & Selling Real Estate in The Rain Shadow
    • Real Estate From Bricks & Mortar to High Tech Virtuality
    • The Seven Myths of Selling Your Home
    • Buying Your Retirement Home
    • The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents
  • Agents
    • Professional Buyer’s Agent
    • Flat Fee Listing Broker
Tetralogy
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • Register
  • Home
  • Search MLS
    • Sequim MLS
    • Sequim MLS Map Search
    • Port Angeles MLS
    • Port Townsend MLS
    • San Juan Islands MLS
    • All Islands MLS
    • How to Search the Sequim MLS
  • Videos
    • Sequim Videos Q&A
    • Buyer Videos Part 1
    • Buyer Videos Part 2
    • Buyer Videos Part 3
    • Buyer Videos Part 4
    • Living in Sequim Video Channel
  • Books
    • Sequim Real Estate for Buyers (Free eBook Updates Forever)
    • Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide (Paperback)
    • Escaping California to The San Juan Islands
      • Menu Below
    • Buying & Selling Real Estate in The Rain Shadow
    • Real Estate From Bricks & Mortar to High Tech Virtuality
    • The Seven Myths of Selling Your Home
    • Buying Your Retirement Home
    • The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents
  • Agents
    • Professional Buyer’s Agent
    • Flat Fee Listing Broker
No Result
View All Result
iRealty Virtual Brokers
No Result
View All Result
Home Selling Your Home

Home Improvements That Hurt Resale

Chuck Marunde by Chuck Marunde
September 7, 2019
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0 0
0

Home improvements can help or hurt the sale of a home. When you are buying a home and when you make some home improvements, your first thought is probably not, “is this home sellable?” I believe it should be one of your considerations, because someday you will need to sell. That time may be many years away, even 20 years away. But when you do want to sell, sellability and price will be top of mind for you. For one person, this bright red tile bathroom was the cat’s meow, but I can guarantee that the majority of retirees moving to the Sequim area would be repulsed by this bathroom. It would hinder the sellability of this home.

Home Improvements

Home Improvements – Good or Bad?

I wrote an earlier article related to home improvements entitled Sellability and Appreciation, and one reader had a very good comment, which I include here so we can flush this idea out on whether some home improvements are good or bad for resale.

She wrote, “This is just depressing. All this time, I have been very careful not to customize the home I am in, avoided making anything but widely acceptable upgrades, knowing I will need a buyer for this home to relocate for retirement. But at the same time, I have anticipated the joy it will bring me to actually place mosaic tile (made up of all my saved broken Chintz plates and saucers) around my fireplace so that my home finally feels like ME. To paint the walls pastel pink. To possibly have vintage appliances. To paint any brickwork or wood paneling a shabby chic white. Instead you are saying that I need to continue to have escrow beige carpet, stainless steel appliances and neutrals throughout so that I can sell my retirement home before entering assisted living when I am 90. Most depressing.”

Discerning Home Improvements

I think my response is worth sharing. I wrote, “Ann, your point is well made, especially with the kinds of specific improvements that make your home special and unique for you. My emphasis [in that article] is really not on specific improvements as much as it is on the bigger picture–the floor plan, the location, and the quality and style of the home. What you emphasized are the unique improvements that you would make to create that little piece of ‘Heaven’ for your own home. As long as unique improvements are not way outside the Bell Curve of what the average person would see as attractive, that’s okay. If you have a nice floor plan on a lot in a nice location, small improvements like an unusual colored tile in the bathroom are not likely to push a qualified buyer away, unless they are too radical or there are too many unique improvements for the average buyer. The truth is, one of the best reasons to own a home is so that you can make it your own little Heaven with some of those very special improvements. The thought in the back of the mind, however, should be that the more “unique” your improvements, the more likely the home gets pushed to the outer boundaries of the Bell Curve and becomes harder to sell someday.”

Home improvements can substantially improve the value of a home and the appeal of a home to prospective buyers, or home improvements can chase buyers away in droves.

Last Updated on September 7, 2019 by Chuck Marunde

Tags: home improvementsNew Construction
ShareTweet
Chuck Marunde

Chuck Marunde

Chuck grew up in remote Alaska, graduated from the University of Alaska with a degree in Economics and Teacher Certification, and after teaching high school for two years, went to law school at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. He served four years as a Captain and JAG in the USAF at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas. After practicing real estate law for 20 years in Washington, Chuck founded iRealty Virtual Brokers covering Sequim and the beautiful Olympic Peninsula. He is the author of 2,200 real estate articles and a dozen real estate books, and he produced over 100 real estate videos. Chuck combined his love for real estate and technology to create a massive Internet presence, and his articles and videos and books have been viewed by millions. Chuck is a well recognized real estate expert and his counsel is sought by other brokers and practicing attorneys around the country. Buyers from New York to Hawaii and from Florida to Alaska seek him out to retain him as their buyer's agent, and home owners around the State of Washington seek him out because of his new Flat Fee Listing Service. 

Related Posts

How to Sell Your Home
Selling Your Home

How to Sell Your Home: 7 Myths Chapter 1 (Part 3 of 3)

October 22, 2019
3
How to Sell Your Home
Selling Your Home

How to Sell Your Home: 7 Myths Chapter 1 (Part 2 of 3) The Open House

October 22, 2019
2
How to Sell Your Home
Selling Your Home

How to Sell Your Home: 7 Myths Chapter 1 (Part 1 of 3)

October 10, 2019
5
How to Sell Your Home
Selling Your Home

How to Sell Your Home: 7 Myths Part 5

August 3, 2022
2
How to Sell Your Home
Selling Your Home

How to Sell Your Home: 7 Myths Part 4

January 6, 2021
2
How to Sell Your Home
Selling Your Home

How to Sell Your Home: 7 Myths Part 3

January 6, 2021
2
Next Post

Real Estate Questions and Answers

Why Sequim? America is Changing!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

"I wish I read this before selling my
home. I could have saved $50,000." Andy 

Search 2,200 Articles by Category

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Buyer and Seller

What if a Buyer and Seller Talk to Each Other?

August 5, 2022
10 Best Places to Retire

Why is Sequim One Of The 10 Best Places To Retire?

September 22, 2019
Terminate a real estate contract

How to Terminate a Real Estate Contract

December 31, 2020
Prorate Propane

How to Prorate Propane at Closing

August 15, 2015
print newspapers

Print Newspapers Losing Readers to the Internet

42
FNMA Killing Transactions by Requiring Private Road Maintenance Agreements

FNMA Killing Transactions by Requiring Private Road Maintenance Agreements

31
Buyer and Seller

What if a Buyer and Seller Talk to Each Other?

28

What Documents Does a Buyer Need to Buy Real Estate?

24
Financing Contingency

What does “The Financing Contingency Shall Survive the Closing Date” Mean?

August 12, 2022
Sequim Real Estate

Massive Upgrades to Sequim Real Estate Blog

August 11, 2022
Subscription to iRealty Virtual Brokers Real Estate Blog

How Do I Subscribe to This Real Estate Blog?

August 11, 2022
Sequim Home

Is Sequim Always Sunny?

August 11, 2022

Subscribe to Chuck 
Marunde's Newsletter

Popular Stories

  • Buyer and Seller

    What if a Buyer and Seller Talk to Each Other?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Why is Sequim One Of The 10 Best Places To Retire?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • How to Terminate a Real Estate Contract

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • How to Prorate Propane at Closing

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The Sequim Blue Hole – A Map of Rainfall

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Leaving Comments   I hope you’ll join our community and leave comments from time to time. Please realize that comments, if approved, will be public, so do not use any personal information you don’t want broadcast to the world, and definitely don’t leave a phone number. Comments are not the place to ask Chuck Marunde for help in finding a home. To do that, call or text Chuck.

Neither Chuck Marunde nor iRealty Virtual Brokers offers legal advice on this site. Please Read Our Legal Disclaimer

If you’d like to view how we protect your privacy, see our Privacy Policy.

iRealty Virtual Brokers

iRealty Virtual Brokers reaches out to buyers around the United States with thousands of online articles, MLS sites, apps, real estate books, videos, and much more specifically to help buyers find all the answers to their questions. We also now offer a flat fee commission listing service that saves sellers tens of thousands of dollars.

iRealty Virtual Brokers
125 Olympic Ranch Ln
Sequim, Washington 98382
360-775-5424

Search the entire NWMLS in Washington State:

Sequim-Homes.com

The largest independent real estate blog in the State of Washington with over 2,200 articles totally focused on our client’s best interest, their needs and their curiosity. All free and 100% reliable. I’m here if you need me, 

© 2006-2022 iRealty Virtual Brokers and Chuck Marunde

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Search MLS
    • Sequim MLS
    • Sequim MLS Map Search
    • Port Angeles MLS
    • Port Townsend MLS
    • San Juan Islands MLS
    • All Islands MLS
    • How to Search the Sequim MLS
  • Videos
    • Sequim Videos Q&A
    • Buyer Videos Part 1
    • Buyer Videos Part 2
    • Buyer Videos Part 3
    • Buyer Videos Part 4
    • Living in Sequim Video Channel
  • Books
    • Sequim Real Estate for Buyers (Free eBook Updates Forever)
    • Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide (Paperback)
    • Escaping California to The San Juan Islands
      • Menu Below
    • Buying & Selling Real Estate in The Rain Shadow
    • Real Estate From Bricks & Mortar to High Tech Virtuality
    • The Seven Myths of Selling Your Home
    • Buying Your Retirement Home
    • The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents
  • Agents
    • Professional Buyer’s Agent
    • Flat Fee Listing Broker

© 2006-2022 iRealty Virtual Brokers and Chuck Marunde

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

*By registering into our website, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.