Drummer-I agree that the first thing to do is clearly understand the market. What has sold, price range, how long it took. Look at last 90 days, max, 6 months back. Compare your house to those. Choose the ones that are the best comparables. Then get the stats for the current listings.
When you have that info, you will be ready to determine what renovations you will do. 2-3 bids from recommended people who will provide references. My off the cuff response is that street appeal is important, so spiff up the plants. Fresh, neutral paint is inexpensive and always positive. At that point, I sometimes provide the consulting, other times I hire a stager to come in and assess the property. Sometimes that will help you show the house to its best advantage. A consultation, fee for the assessment, is about $75.

If you would like my help, with getting statistics for your area, providing names of qualified builders, and/or a good staging consultant, please let me know. Good that you are taking your time before jumping in.

If considering increasing he appraised value only, the only things that will increase that value are as follows:
1. Increased square footage
2. Replacing carpet with tile or wood flooring
3. Laminated counter tops with marble.

Nothing else will increase the appraised value. Painting, roofing and other things do not....other improvements may make the property more applealing; but, in the final consideration you must remember that the property must appraise at your sales price or the purchaser will have to come up with the difference in the appraised value and the sales price.
Good luck.

Hi Drummer,

Go slow and make sure you do your homework.

You will not take a 7 year old home and increase the value that much given the current market conditions.

Kitchens and baths usually recoup the most when doing renovations. Paint is always the lease expensive upgrand. Curb appeal through landscaping is also a good move. Go low-water landscaping for a double tap for marketing purposes. Replacing windows on a newer homes seems like an imprudent decision. They should be ok if installed properly and energy efficient. Windows are very expensive to replace and you cannot recoup the investment.

One intangible, impossible to answer from afar, is your local Fair Market Value (FMV). What are homes selling for in your neighborhood? Homes in your immediate area comparable to yours? We can only look at the last six months of sales. Also check out which ones have not sold in the last six months and the asking price. Gives you a good idea of current FMV.

This is not a science and not standard answers apply.

Good luck,

Dominick Dina, Broker/Owner
Christian Realty San Antonio

Hello Drummer! I have a couple of links that I think you will find to be useful. The first link will take you to a recent survey that was conducted by Remodeling Magazine. While it is extremely informative, your local conditions rule supreme. When I say local I mean local to your neighborhood. Having said that, knowing the market and what the market will support in your neighborhood is what you should focus on. The second link will allow you to set up a bi-weekly or monthly market snapshot of your neighborhood. This will allow you to see homes in your neighborhood and how the market is reacting to various home owners abundance or lack of updating. You don't want to be the least updated home in the neighborhood but you certainly do not want to be the most heavily updated home either. Seeing this information along with which areas of a home tend to give the most bang for the resale buck, will help you determine which projects you should take on and how much you might want to spend. I hope this helps. Good luck!

Sincerely,

Richard Cain

* http://www.remodeling.hw.net/2008/costvsvalue/division/west-…
* http://cainsellsaustin.com/mls-market-snapshot.asp

Drummer:

Great questions! I would have a couple of questions or comments for you about your refurbshing. They are really along the lines of making sure that the money you spend has the biggest impact. You did not specifically mention if you are wanting to sell or lease. This will make a difference in the money that you invest.

Overall, a house of this age (2002) should not require any of the majors, and you should be able to do the high impact - lower cost options (painting and landscaping). The windows, hvac, plumbing, electrical, etc... should be in reasonbly good condition. The flooring hopefully can be "spruced up" to make it look presentable. Again, unless it has been used really hard these are still within the normal age range of use.

The biggest consideration is to check your homes market value to ensure that you are still above what you paid for it. The market has changed in different areas around austin. Value is determined by buyers today and they are expecting great deals with no flaw homes. This makes the competition fierce. This is why i suggest doing HIGH impact improvements for lower costs. You really need to see what today's value is before spending any more money.

Thanks
Ritch Haenke, Realtor
Coldwell Banker United
512.633.3909
rhaenke@sbcglobal.net