AVOID These Home Updates That DON'T Add Value

It’s not always about ROI. Being happy in your home is important. Life is short. Do what you want to your home and enjoy 💕

The issue is that either the renter or the owner must in some way pay insurance and property taxes if they want a "permanent roof" with utilities like electricity, gas and water. Because of this, many people—at least in California, where I currently reside—are living in tents. No taxes, rent, mortgages, or insurance. The number of people who tell me they live in their car that I meet amazes me. Its crazy out here!

I concur on the landscaping . I had LAVISH cottage gardens at my previous home. It looked AMAZING. BUT--so many of the folks looking at those flowers thought---work. This was supposed to be our forever home, but we ended up having to move and those flower beds ended up limiting my pool of potential buyers. Most people prefer a few beds of shrubs and mulch. On a side note---at our new "forever" home---I am putting in AMAZING cottage / prairie borders. Some people never learn............... :)

so don’t turn my dining room into a Pirates of the Caribbean tavern?! NoOoOoOO!!!!

I really have no reason to watch this video, but it looked interesting enough that I clicked on it. You're going to do big things with this channel. The editing is great and the content is engaging!

Don't ever say you're not selling the house. I said that for years. After retirement, I moved to sunny Arizona. I had a DIY solar power system. I packed it all up and took it with me.😊 A permanent fixture with your roof mount solar panels is a bad idea. You try to blend it in with your landscape. Mine was a deck rail mount and a large shed roof mount. I had an immediate benefit from my solar power system. The DIY only cost me about 5,000 dollars after Federal tax credit. My power bill is only 20 cents per day 😊

This is all good advice, but America has a problem. A house use to be bought for a place to live, but now people look at their homes as investments. Turn your house into your home and live your life as you see fit. YOLO!

A good rule of thumb do not put a Mercedes in a Ford neighborhood.

I moved to Florida and thought I found my forever home. I replaced the roof and put in impact windows, which were necessary. But I put an elaborate solar system on both the house and the barn. A year later I had to move and I did lose money on that solar system. But the people who moved there got a great deal.😢 I believe in solar so much that I ended up putting a system on my current house in central Florida too. On my old home when hurricane Ian came through, my daughter was still at the old house. The neighborhood was out of power for 2weeks, but she never lost power because of the solar.

Wonderful advice I must say we were so blessed that we sold our home which had salt water in-ground pool n Jacuzzi n landing with bubblers for young children enclosed fenced yard,cameras system, screened garage ,gutters, wrap around driveway we redid the pantry ,butler in master, plus some upgrades when we purchased the home n we got it all back including the sale of home and paid off our mortgage n a profit ....So happy we blessed someone else all they had to do was turn key n enjoy life

I’m in Alabama and I have a rule: I will never ever move into a home without a sun room. It’s too hot here to enjoy the outside from May to October.

My house is a 690 square-foot Craftsman built in 1900 I live in a lower middle-class neighborhood. In other words, nothing fancy. So when I did updates in my house, I didn’t go overboard. Mostly because my budget wouldn’t allow it, but also because the neighborhood would not support it so to speak. So now everything is updated. Cl we did completely got the bathroom and the kitchen and updated them. But not fancy, I did not put in the quartz countertops. I did not put in real hardwood floors. But that’s OK. And I painted all the rooms in my house bright vibrant colors. I love it.

I’m glad you included the timeline someone plans on living in their home. I chose paint colors for myself. I had to explain to my sister I don’t plan to sell in the next 5 -10 years, so I’m creating the house I want to live in and love. Not for some other hypothetical buyer in the future. This is a very useful video, glad you examine the math involved.

I've sold 5 homes without realtors on my own and I know a thing of two. One the pool thing is a mixed bag, while it does push away buyers who don't want a pool or are scared of the maintenance it also attracts buyers who specifically want a pool, and ones that are willing to pay a significant premium for a home with a pool and are willing to pass up other options that are in better locations, etc. So yes it can push some away, but it can also be a huge decision maker for some. The key is to list it VERY clearly on websites and in the listing that it has a pool to not attract the wrong buyers in the first place.

I heard an amazing story about story about custom paint colors. My friend's aunt had lived for a couple of decades in Peru. She ended up returning to Canada, and bought a home. The previous owner had painted a feature wall in each room. The feature walls were all solid, intense colors that would be extremely difficult to cover with new paint. There was even a solid black wall. (This was back in the 80s, so I'm not sure what products would have been available at that time to deal with this.) Aunt calls her sister, my friend's mom, to come and help her. My friend's mom was a wizard and really should have been a professional decorator. Mom ends up going through her sister's artwork from Peru, and decides there isn't any need to repaint! Peruvian art is generally colorful and primary colors, which went with the primary colors of the walls. She helps her sister arrange her Peruvian treasures to showcase them to advantage. My friend said it was amazing, and she loved to go over to visit and admire. Of course this isn't going to work for everybody. But it goes to show that there are solutions that can work depending on your situation.

All of these videos/articles always list the ROI on renovations as a percentage of what was spent. In other words, nearly all return less than they cost. Do the upgrade for your own enjoyment, and only if you plan to stay in your home for a long time. None are actual investments.

Thank you for being honest about solar panels

Thank you, Jen. Great video, very informative. I'll refer to the notes I took when I speak with my designer, my realtor, and my financial advisor!

So right about pools and pit patios, Jen. A neighbor here in S Delaware had to FILL IN his pool to close the buyer. They didn't care that it also had the grill and party pit. Ouch. $85,000 + 4,500 a year is a lot of $$ per dip. Gardens too...a friend finally withdrew her home because her lovely gardens with 23 separate sprinkler shutoffs was too scary for several qualified buyers who would have bought without all that. My technophobe spouse hates smart lights. I love them. Fortunately we're not selling :)

We spent $58k on kitchen upgrades. We won't see 1/2 that back but we are pleased. Paid cash.