As with any substantial investment in your life, it depends upon your lifestyle needs, your home goals and length of time you intend on living in your home. Undertaking a major home remodeling project is a complex decision and can be emotionally challenging for even the most experienced homeowner. The decision making process involves a list of critical factors that must be carefully evaluated and weighed against the relevant alternatives. The following discussion should provide some insights to the critical factors leading to the most fruitful decision depending on the requirements of your family.
Updating or Major Renovation
A good place to start is clearly defining your home remodeling needs. Are you motivated by providing your home with a fresh appearance, or is it a result of the neglected maintenance of your home giving way to natural aging? Another common reason of a major renovation is the result of an unexpected insurance event from wind, flood or fire damage to the property.
Involuntary renovation provides a good opportunity to modify the interior and exterior of your home. You can always replace in kind, but one of the advantages is that the insurance company will pay for your temporary housing needs. It seems to be a missed opportunity not to update and remodel your home, given that it really does not require any additional time. Your insurance company will usually pay you an amount required to replace in kind. Any difference in cost to upgrade will commonly be in the materials and products you select.
Voluntary renovation projects are not as easy to navigate as insurance remodeling projects. They require a greater amount of due diligence in assessing the timing, cost and appropriate home remodeling features that warrant a good return on your investment. Understanding your home renovation goals is essential to the planning and design process. Just as important it is to develop a priority list of products you want to use from your wish list. This will provide you some helpful guidance in making key choices if your budget expands out of control.
Major Remodeling
How Long Do You Plan to Live There?
Answering this question will often provide you the guidance you need in determining what kind of renovation is to be considered. If you do not plan to be in your home for at least 5 years, a major remodeling project is not likely to be a financial sound proposition. The reason is that most of the major home renovation projects pay more for themselves when measured over 5 years.
Experts have historically calculated the immediate cost value relationship impact on a home is regularly between 60% to 80% rate of return on the initial investment in the same year. It is also common knowledge that most home values increase at the rate equal to or greater than most major price indexes. Therefore, if your home value appreciates at a rate of 3% or greater, the cost difference between the estimated cost and expected rate of return gets offset the longer period you remain in your home.
The neglecting of problematic home maintenance issues can also pave your way for a massive home renovation. These types of issues are associated with structural problems such as foundation settlement, rain water leaks and termite infestation. These renovation issues require a significant investment to cure the problem. The unfortunate economic reality is that these types of major renovations do more to maintain the value of your home rather than increasing the value when repaired in kind. This is due to the effects of the seller’s disclosure report and the improvements not having a marked effect on the increased value of your home. In addition, it is widely accepted that the longer these types of problems linger, the higher they cost to be corrected.
Not All Home Improvements Are the Same
Once we have justified our motivations and satisfied the time test, we take it into serious consideration which areas of the home can be improved and which products or features you intend to apply. Careful consideration should be given to each area of the home that you want to improve. The most important design consideration with this assessment is how will the improvements in one room ultimately affect the design theme of the adjoining rooms. Another factor to think about is how the planned improvements will solve your space’s functional problems, while not devaluing the future perceived overall home value. That is to say if you want to implement a kitchen design change from contemporary to French country, you can probably expect to alienate a large number of future buyers with your design changes. Remodeling contractors would be able to best help you with the entire design process.
It is important to obtain a defined balance between meeting your needs through a home renovation project and the future enhancement of the resale value of the homes. This does not suggest that your improvement projects should be strictly planned for a future buyer, but rather planned and designed for your families’ personal needs with a watchful eye on the likelihood of a future buyers acceptance.
One of the most essential elements of such projects undertaken by remodeling contractors is the uniqueness and originality it will contribute to your home. Major renovation projects do not happen frequently unless you appoint the ace home remodeling contractors for thoughtful planning and creativity. When your home is personalized within the guidelines we have discussed here, gives the owner a great deal of personal satisfaction and confidence that your project will warrant a generous rate of return. If these best practices are followed, they will translate into an emotional impact on the purchasing decision of the future buyer.
