Deciding to renovate your home is a big decision, and can be an expensive one depending on the type of renovation to be done. As with many walks of life, home renovations can generally be divided into those that we need, and those that we want. In life, we need air to breathe, but we want chocolate gateau to eat. Sure, we could choose the chocolate gateau in favor of the air, but we’ll soon start to regret it. And so it goes, albeit on a less life-critical scale, for home renovations.
According To The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, The Verb “To Renovate” Has Two Meanings:
1. to restore to a former better state (as by cleaning, repairing, or rebuilding)
2. to restore to life, vigor, or activity: revive
They are slightly, almost imperceptibly, different – and one definition is generally much more important than the other for the homeowner when considering how to spend their hard-earned renovation budget.
We often think of a home renovation as something which brightens up our living space, gives us more room, or makes us more comfortable. Consider an addition, or a fresh coat of paint, or a new bathroom. These renovations fall squarely into definition number two. They are restoring life to our home, and have the ‘wow’ factor which we love to share with our friends and family. These renovations also tend to add value to the price of a house, and people will talk about the return on investment that goes with them i.e. what the cost of the renovation is compared to the increase in price if the house were to be sold.
However, there is sometimes a far more important home renovation to be considered, and that, unfortunately, falls into definition number one. It is the maintenance renovation, the “restore to a former better state” renovation, the boring renovation – and the ratio of financial cost to “wow” factor absolutely stinks. This type of renovation includes things like a new roof, foundation repairs, pointing, insulation, and wiring – normally renovations you can’t see – and are generally the top priority of any home owner, no matter what situation they are in.
What about when the home-owner is trying to sell their house? It is well-known that a new kitchen has the best return on investment and can boost the value of a house significantly. It may be tempting to renovate this little profit maker first to get more money and to make the house more attractive, but there is a downfall – if there are any outstanding structural or major maintenance issues, the potential buyer, if they have any common sense, will find them when they have a structural survey performed.
Depending on what the issue is, there could be one of several outcomes: a request for a reduction in price, a request for the work to be completed and re-inspected at the homeowner’s expense, or, as is quite often the case, a permanent retraction of the offer. It’s a hard pill to swallow for the seller, because typically a realtor’s price evaluation of their house has not taken into account the cost of this additional work, and yet by having the work done, there seems to be no benefit in terms of increasing the house value. In fact, of course, there is – it’s just that the evaluation was too high in the first place.
A note about the risk assessment: if there is an effect you are observing you will have to think about all the possible causes and rate them accordingly. For example, a stain on the ceiling could be due a leaky roof, but it could also be due to a leaky pipe. Be sensible though…
Author Bio:
In 2019, Iqbal Saleem joined vividshop as a sales manager. Toys shop in lahore is an online e-commerce store selling items related to kids. You can buy kid’s stationery, books and toys from this online store. The staff of vividshop is very cooperative, and they deliver their products on time too. I have also bought some toys for my children using this store. The material of the toys was very good. Therefore, do give this store a try.
