Remodeling Your Bathroom to Improve Your Home's Resale Value

With the current economic trends, financial security is on everyone's mind. So more and more, people looking to remodel are looking to do so with the bottom line in mind. The good news is that bathroom remodeling has a good track record for adding the resale value of a home when it is done right.

Bring It Up to Par

Housing prices are determined by "comps." This is short for "comparables." In other words, houses are compared to others that are as much like them as possible to determine the price. This includes things like:

• Same neighborhood
• Number of bathrooms
• Number of bedrooms

So, for example, if you have a one bath home and most homes around you have two bathrooms, adding a second bathroom will be one the best ways to get the biggest bang for the buck. Thus, you should find out what the norm is in your neighborhood. If your bathroom falls short of the norm in some way, make sure you bring it up to par. This will be one of the best investments you can make in a remodeled bathroom. It is practically guaranteed to add to resale value.

Think Hard About the Budget

If you are looking for a bathroom remodeling job as an investment, it should be obvious that you don't want to overspend or over-improve. But a perhaps less obvious fact is that you also do not want to be penny wise and pound foolish.You do not want to cut corners or be a cheapskate in ways that will come back to bite you later. In order to get a return on your investment, it has to be of a certain level of quality in order to appeal to a potential buyer.The details for this will vary a great deal from neighborhood to neighborhood and house to house. Your best bet is to talk to a local real estate or remodeling professional familiar with the market in your area. They will be better positioned than the vast majority of people to give you meaningful feedback on what is a necessary expense and what just won't sell.

Be Current, But Not Too Trendy

In 2016, black and white bathrooms are trendy. This is nice because it is a classic, neutral color scheme. So, it is pretty safe to go ahead and follow this trend. But sometimes being too trendy will cause your bathroom to rapidly look dated and undesirable. A professional can also help you sort the wheat from the chaff on this topic.Although remodeling with an eye towards improving resale value is mostly about pleasing a potential customer, don't turn it into something you will hate. The idea here is to improve the bottom line when you do sell, not drive you out of your own home because you can no longer stand the place. So leave some room for your tastes too.