Doing the right renovations to your home before selling it can significantly increase its value, and even bring in a profit. However, home renovation mistakes can leave you with irreparable problems, massive costs, and a low return on investment.

Homeowners want to save money while increasing the value of their homes for buyers, and this often leads to common home renovation mistakes.

If you’re preparing to remodel your home before putting it on the market, then be sure to read about the eight most common home renovation mistakes so that you don’t make the same ones.

1. Adding Custom Features

You may be tempted to add personalized touches and custom features that you think are awesome. However, what appeals to you may be extremely unappealing to future buyers.

In fact, when you’re renovating your home to sell you should be removing customizations to create a clean slate to present to buyers. You want people to come to view the house and visualize it as their home, not yours.

2. Only Focusing on Cosmetic Repairs

One of the most important reasons for remodeling a home before selling is to make it visually appealing. You want to spruce it up, give it a facelift and make sure it looks good. 

But a big mistake that sellers make is only covering signs of damage, rather than addressing structural or other issues. Ignoring damage will only cost you more money in the long run.

So, rather than sprucing up your home with fancy features and unnecessary additions, remodel the structure to address damage as well as the overall cosmetic appeal.

3. Remodelling Without a Plan

Rushing into renovations is a big reason why many sellers land up losing money, with a disaster on their hands. Poor planning leads to long delays and unnecessary extra costs.

Take the time to plan the remodel strategically and thoughtfully. Think about all the details of the job, the actual renovations, but also a schedule of dates or designer plans.

Then, think about the sequence of remodeling and do it smartly. For example, paint the walls before replacing the floors. Don’t forget the cleanup process. Ensure to allocate yourself enough time to clean before putting the house on show.

4. Being Financially Unprepared for Contingencies

First of all, it’s vital that you have a realistic and sufficient home renovation budget. Secondly, that budget should always make allowances for unprepared and unexpected situations and costs.

Problems always arise when doing home renovations. There are unexpected repairs that you have to address, or you find out you need extra materials, etc. A contingency budget is not a budget to support scope changes. It is to cover unanticipated costs that arise.

Your contingency budget should be 10 to 20 percent of your total home renovation budget.

5. Ignoring Curb Appeal

When you’re preparing to sell your home, you need to consider indoor and outdoor renovations. The first impression that potential buyers have of your home is the front yard or the area in front of your home.

‘Curb appeal’ is how appealing your home is when looking at it from the sidewalk. And it doesn’t matter how beautiful your home is, if the front yard is a mess, it will significantly ruin the curb appeal.

a real estate agent will tell you that your curb appeal is important and it’s a big part of the first impressions. Small landscaping adjustments and additions can do wonders to make your home more attractive.

Your front yard should get buyers excited about seeing the rest of the house. It’s their first introduction to the property and it needs to impress them.

6. Dodgy DIY

It’s normal for sellers to try to cut costs by taking on some DIY projects. While there are some simple DIY projects that you may be equipped to handle, a lot of house renovation mistakes are DIY projects gone wrong.

Messing up a DIY job results in wasted hours and sometimes a bigger problem or project than when you started. You may even end up with an irreparable problem.

So, how do you avoid this? Know your limits of what you can and can’t do. If you’re unsure, don’t attempt it, call up a professional.

7. Expecting Exact ROI

Homeowners tend to think that they will get an exact dollar-for-dollar return on their renovations. This is an especially common mistake to make when renovating old homes. You may think that if you spend $15,000 on a kitchen remodel, that your home value increases by $15,000.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. Remodeling does add value to your home, but it’s not dollar-for-dollar. This is why you need to be smart about it.

Instead of gutting the entire kitchen and spending a ton of money, do minor remodels that will give you a higher ROI. For example, rather than installing new kitchen cabinets, simply upgrade the doors.

8. Working Without a Contract

Lastly, one of the biggest mistakes you can make when it comes to home renovations is working with unprofessional contractors and not having a contract to protect you.

You should always have a written contract that outlines the details of the project, the time frame, the materials, cleanup, price, and more.

Always keep the contract updated and ensure that both you and your contractor agree to the terms and details that it stipulates.

Don’t Make These Home Renovation Mistakes

If you’re preparing to sell your home and planning to spruce it up before doing so, take care not to make these home renovation mistakes. You want to ensure that you get the best bang for your buck. You can do this by having a thorough plan, avoiding big DIY jobs, and putting aside a contingency budget.

Once your home is in tip-top shape with a beautiful curb appeal and all the remodeling complete, let us help you sell it. We’ll give you an instant home value and help you sell it for maximum profit.