Today's housing market is so different from a few years back. Sellers are now realizing that in order to help sell their home and quickly they have to make upgrades and improvements to their property to make them marketable.
One word of caution though and that is to avoid over-improving the property because you will never get back everything you put into it and in turn it may take longer to sell.
If a seller is looking to make a quick sale, certain improvements may hind the speed in which the house might sell because of the wait time for materials and construction.
Such things may include installing beautiful new cabinets with granite counters. We all love them and we all want them, but the cost is extremely high and sometimes it can take anywhere from 30 to 60 days to complete the job.
Sellers are urged to keep the improvement costs between $5,000 and $20,000 with total construction time running under 3 weeks.
Today resale sellers are competing with foreclosures and short sales which make the market for sellers a little more difficult in respect to affordability and turn around time. This is particularly true since foreclosures, REO's and short sales are both of those things.
One question sellers have to ask themselves should be, "Are we over improving for our area based on what's selling and what is currently being constructed now?"
If new home construction costs a $100 a square foot compared to a home built several years ago for about a $150 a square foot with a gourmet kitchen and granite bathrooms is that house now worth closer to $100 a square foot even with all those amenities? Sellers have to remain competitive.
It is a fine line between making improvements to help sell a home quickly and at the appropriate price and not. Going over-board on improvements may yield not so good returns and may be more of a detriment rather than an improvement.
It's always best to side with caution. The seller might be better off consulting with a professional appraiser to ensure that the correct upgrades are tackled to avoid unnecessary time and costs.