Most people; when selling a home, have an extensive list of chores and improvements that they would like to do to improve the selling price of their home. However, one thing that people may not think of when doing improvements is their target market. So many home sellers do renovations and make improvements without considering the kind of people who will want (or be able to) purchase their home. This will be heavily dependent on the asking price, so be careful not to improve the home too much as to price it out of the target market.
Improvements such as redoing the kitchen and adding new appliances are always appreciated and desired by buyers but more involved renovations can easily divide your market as the higher priced the home is, the more select the buyers are.
You will also have to consider the community and neighborhood that your home is in. This is an important thing to think about before renovating. Will your planned renovations take your home outside of the neighborhood's average price? Let's look at it this way; you have a home that is worth $250,000 and that is one the neighborhood's highest priced homes. Let's say the average is about $200,000. Your planned renovations will escalate the price closer to $300,000. If you list your home for $300k in a neighborhood where homes go for $200K can you be sure that people who are willing to pay that amount for a home will see the value in the neighborhood as well? It can be fairly easy to get carried away with improvements to the point where the home does not belong in it's neighborhood anymore. Buyers will not only be looking for the perfect home but they will be looking for the perfect neighborhood.
If you are looking to do some improvements, meet with your realtor and discuss what would best suit and benefit your home. Be careful not to go overboard and create a situation where your home has difficulty selling because too much has been done to it.
