Advice on renovations to increase resale + enjoy in the meantime
We own a Berkeley home that we are likely to want to sell in 5 years. Were we planning to hold longer, there are lots of things we would do to make it even more functional for our own use. And I know we'll need to make some improvements before we sell. We're looking for someone who can advise us on which improvements would increase resale sufficiently to merit the investment, so that we can prioritize those now and enjoy them while we're still in the house. Is this an architect with specialized knowledge? A broker with a medium time horizon for building business? An architect/contractor who does a ton of work with brokers pre-sale? Thanks for any tips on direction, firms, or individuals. And if this is you, I'm all ears! :)
Nov 1, 2024
Parent Replies
Realtors do this, and those who are very experienced in your market will do it well. Call 3 top realtors very targeted to your immediate area and interview them in your home. Say you’re planning to sell in 2-5 years and are starting to prepare now. Ask advice. Aggregate their comments and ask for their recommended contractors. You care about what will SELL - they’re the only folks who deeply understand this.
Our realtor was helpful with this, but we were within a year of selling. I would ask around your network to find a realtor friend who could come by.
We are doing this very thing right now. We met with a few realtors to get some advice on what we would need to do to ready the house for a future sale and then decided to update/ refresh two bathrooms, kitchen, and add windows to our living room to make the view better and have a sunnier space. We are working with an amazing architect/ designer named Annie Lazarus. She has been incredibly helpful. She has great ideas and gets things done in a timely manner. She has kept us on budget too which is important. If you want to chat with me more please have the moderator send you my information. Annie can be reached at 415-378-4506.
Gretchen Davidson
One general rule is that the improvement most apt to increase market value of your property, relative to the cost of the work, is to build another bathroom.
My advice, comes from experience, as a retired real estate broker.
We worked with Megan Micco on this exact issue. It's worth reaching out to her: https://www.meganmicco.com/
Berkeley Hills Realty - look no further!
We worked with Tracy Sichterman, real estate broker and owner at Berkeley Hills, and one of her associates, Linda Van Couvering . We started talking with them about a year and a half before selling our home in the Berkeley flats in to determine which improvements would increase the resale value enough to make the investment worthwhile. I believe they still offer this as a service even if they are not your selling realtor, though you'd have to check.
We had used Tracy to buy our house, and we were really impressed with her structural knowledge of properties as well as her in-depth knowledge of market trends. Her skill in guessing the approximate cost of remodeling projects (later confirmed by bids) was almost uncanny. Although we have several wonderful friends who are architects, we didn't want to get carried away with spending, so our focus was on exactly what you're describing: will this project increase the value of our home in the eyes of prospective buyers?
Tracy was the first person that we thought of when we ended up selling sooner than we had anticipated. She's smart, a good listener, never pushes her ideas on her clients. She and Linda walked around our house, discussing the improvements we were considering--and occasionally making suggestion of their own. Linda has an amazing designer's eye. It made me not want to sell! I wish we had done what you're doing: remodeling or taking on projects so that you can enjoy them. It's so hard to work on beautifying a home that you love, only to leave all that work for someone else to enjoy. I think you're making a "smart move":). Good luck!
Berkeley Hills Realty: Tracy Sichterman tracy [at] berkhills.com (tracy[at]berkhills[dot]com) 510-520-0076
I’d advise work with your realtor + an interior designer. Realtor to give you perspective of what would give you the most bang for the buck considering your neighborhood and an interior designer who can execute on this by planning out the improvements end to end with a contractor. The upside of hiring an interior designer is that you’ll get the dual benefit of home improvements with respect to functionality as well as aesthetics, both crucial aspects while you stay in your current home as well as when you put it up for sale down the line. More importantly, interior designer can help plan out the improvements considering your budget to ensure you are spending the meat of your budget on things that will give you the most returns.
From my own experiences, I can provide you the following referrals for realtor and interior designer. I have worked with both and have been very happy with the results.
Interior Designer: Kshama Shah of House Of Design LLC.
Realtor: Danny Burgess of Porchlight Bay Area
Good luck with your project!
-Jay