I remember one of the first listing appointments I went on like it was yesterday. There was a beautiful old brick house built in the 1920’s. When the owner called me she told me that she and her husband had made a lot of improvements and that the home was probably worth more than other homes in the area because of the improvements.
The improvements turned out to be what I call customizations. They were made to suit their taste or their lifestyle but most would not consider the customizations to be home improvements. They had put wood paneling in each room on almost every wall from floor to ceiling and the Mr. built a dark room in the basement.
Most buyers would have rather had the home without the improvements and the sellers were so proud of what they had done. I recall another seller who insisted his home would sell quickly even if it was overpriced because of the custom green mini blinds he had on most of the windows.
We do all sorts of things to make our homes our own and they may make the home more valuable to us but less valuable to the buyers who start to factor in the costs of getting rid of paneling, painting it or converting the dark room into much-needed storage.
Don’t be too surprised if buyers won’t pay top dollar for your home with all the improvements.
