It is pretty common knowledge that kitchens and master bathrooms make or break the appeal for a home on the market.  Get those two areas right can land a buyer that might otherwise pick another home.

But doing those rooms right isn’t cheap.  Back around Christmas I wrote a post about how the front door was the most bang for the buck in the improvement arena.  In the same post, I mentioned that a “Minor Kitchen Remodel” averaged over $20k in cost (while only delivering about $15k in value).  That isn’t cheap…

So, what are some improvements that can make a big impact on the appeal of the home, without making that big of an impact on your bank balance?

• Add appropriate crown mouldings. If you are handy, this can be a great improvement.  Depending on the profile you select, you might be able to do a room for $100-$300… or possibly less.  If you have a home priced over $150k, buyers like to see crown mouldings.
• Paint is the ULTIMATE low-cost upgrade. Face it, for a couple hundred dollars you can paint the inside of your whole home.  You can knock it out in a weekend.  Select neutral colors that are currently popular and enhance the space and you can “Wow!” buyers touring your home.
• Scrape the ceiling… This one isn’t easy.  I’d find someone to hire to do it…  But, smooth ceilings are WAY more popular than popcorn painted ceilings.  Scraping the ceiling and repainting will make your home more desirable than other comparable homes with popcorn ceilings.

Of course, hiring a stager to talk with about how to make your home show better is a great idea.  The stager can help with color selection and ideas to easily improve the “showability” of your home.  Many times those ideas are inexpensive.. and even free.

And if you aren’t looking to sell, focus on improvements that make you happy.  Add wainscotting to the garage (I like the polished aluminum diamond plate…) or more light in the garage.  Upgrade flooring.

When we moved into our home we changed to Decora style rocker switches for all of the lights.  It cost us less than $50 for the whole house and updated the look.  We got rid of the old ivory switches and plates and went with much cleaner pure white.

Have fun…

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