4 Updates Home Sellers Must Do1. Minor Bathroom Remodel
Average cost $10,499
Average resale value: $10, 727
Percentage of cost recovered 102.2 percent
Best return: 168.7% in San Francisco
Worst return: 61.7% in Cleveland
Spend money to remodel your bathroom and it’s likely to come back to you when you sell, particularly if you focus on the master bath. "To make the most of a 5x7 bathroom, do two pedestal sinks with glass and wooden shelves from Restoration Hardware to create openness and the perception that the bathroom is big," says Mark Riley, president of Mark P. Riley Luxury Real Estate Group, Sarasota, Fla. "Slate colored tile looks rich and matches a lot of color schemes and looks great with brushed nickel fixtures."
Replace your 5x3 tub with a tile shower with glass doors to create space.
"Replace the sink and toilet," Riley adds. "There’s nothing worse than a nice bathroom with a cheap toilet and a plastic seat. You don’t have to buy a $500 Toto toilet. You can go to a home store a buy a reasonably priced toilet then add a honey-colored vanity and a nice sink."
It many homes, it’s a better investment to update what you have than to spend more to add on. "For example," say National Association of Realtors President Thomas M. Stevens, senior vice president of NRT Inc., Vienna, Va. "Adding a bathroom to a one-bathroom house in a neighborhood where most homes already have two may not return as much as remodeling an outdated bathroom in that same community."
