Our Advice Before Improvements

By: Javier Gines

The other day I was watching a documentary on residential real estate in California. The show featured a couple who has spent more than a million dollars in renovations during a 16 year period and decided to move from Beverly Hills to San Diego. The problem was that in their million dollar renovation, they hired a couple of artists and created a sort of forest ambiance with fake built in trees, murals and a waterfall in the living area. I have seen my fair share of distinctive taste but this was nothing close to what I have ever dealt with before.

The property has been previously listed with two brokerage firms and not sold. The couple already bought the second home in San Diego and was currently paying two mortgages. As you might know, California has the highest priced real estate in the country so that means this couple was paying for two multi-million dollar homes at the same time.

The third agent they contacted was my kind of agent. She flat out told them, “all of this looks pretty, but it has to go!” and so they did. Property sold for 2.8 million and another happy ending.

Many homeowners and real estate agents get disconnected after the transaction is closed. The truth is that a good real estate agent can do a lot more than just help you through a sale and purchase. They can provide excellent guide on what improvements can raise your property value. Most of the time, homeowners make decisions on renovations based on personal taste, opinions of a contractor or a designer and loose sight of the possibility of selling the property and moving on in the future. The outcome of the improvement might look great but not deliver the return you expect at the sale.

My advice on this subject is to maintain a relationship with an agent you trust and get their opinion before making any major renovation on your home. If the agent is a knowledgeable one, he will be able to determine if the improvements will eventually pay off or at least make you aware of what changes will be needed whenever you decide to sell your property.

In the case that you do not have an agent and would like an opinion of this kind before a major renovation feel free to contact us at 407-641-5325 or Javier@f-ellecompany.com. Like I have mentioned before, our firm is committed to our client’s profit at the end of the day.

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