The Five Worst Home Upgrades You Can Make to Your Home Before Selling It

 

If you’re preparing your home for the market, there are five upgrades you need to avoid making if you want to sell for top dollar.

Over the years, I’ve seen home sellers do a lot of interesting things to get their homes ready for sale. Making improvements to your home to make it more comfortable for you is one thing, but there are five upgrades you definitely need to avoid if you want to sell your home for the most money possible. 

1. Over-the-top improvements. A few years ago, we sold a property that literally had a golden gate in front of its front door and colonnade leading up to that. While we were eventually able to sell that property, the homeowners did not get their return on investment for those improvements. 

2. Home office improvements. If you need a home office, that’s fine, but we find that it’s better to market a home with an extra bedroom than one that has an office space. 

3. Swimming pools. Here in Northern Virginia, adding a swimming pool to your property won’t give you a good return on your investment. We don’t have the type of climate that prompts homebuyers to look for swimming pools while searching for homes. 

"You want to appeal to buyers’ emotions when selling a home."

4. New roofing. While logic makes you think, emotion makes you act, and I’ve never seen a buyer fall in love with a roof. You want to appeal to buyers’ emotions when selling a home, so if your roof is in a state of disrepair, go ahead and repair it—otherwise, replacing it for the sake of replacing it is not a good investment. 

5. Specialized places. I have a home listed right now whose owners had their crawl space below their basement built specifically to store their firearms. That kind of unique addition is great for the current homeowners but not so great for the home’s resale value. 

If you’d like to talk more about which upgrades to avoid or you have any other real estate questions I can answer, feel free to call or email me anytime. I’d be happy to speak with you. 
 

Dan Rochon

Dan Rochon is an Associate Broker in VA, Broker in MD; Owner of Rochon Investments, LLC; Owner and Co-founder of www.GreetingsVirginia.com and Owner of other Joint Ventures as well as a real estate principles instructor at Moseley Real Estate Schools.

As a real estate sales agent, Dan and his team are consistently top producers in their marketplace and provide solutions for their clients. Through their investing company, Dan and Traci Rochon have been investing in residential and commercial real estate ventures for more than the past decade.

Dan and his wife Traci are frequent speakers and are often quoted in media stories about the current real estate market. The Rochon's have been featured on The Nightly News with Brian Williams, The Today Show, CNBC, The Washington Post, The Washington Examiner, WTOP News, Voted as The Best of DC Real Estate Agent in the Washington City Paper Readers Poll, and more...