At some point in our lives, we come to that inevitable crossroads: Do I renovate my home or relocate? Sometimes the choice is easy; other times it can be a real quandary. Here are a few things to consider when making your decision.

1. Do you like your neighborhood? If you have school-age children, are you happy with the school system?  These are two key factors to take into consideration on both ends of your potential move – the area where you now live and the area you’re interested in moving to.

2. Should you invest in upgrading your home before moving? You should – if the upgrades don’t exceed the real estate value of your home. However, if the cost to upgrade pushes your investment beyond your home’s current value – or even beyond the value of homes in your neighborhood – you may be better off selling the house “as is” and moving to a home that already fits your criteria.

Hint: If you know you’ll be moving in a few years, don’t wait until the last year to upgrade. By upgrading now, you’ll be able to enjoy your investments for a while.

3. What upgrades to your current home should you consider before moving? The two most important areas inside the house that carry the most weight in the real estate market are bathrooms and kitchens. Those are the rooms where upgrades have “payback” value. In fact, it’s estimated that homeowners who renovated their kitchens got back about 92% of their investment. The exterior is also important: new roofs have a high return rate of approximately 80% on the homeowner’s investment.

Hint: If you’re renovating with an eye toward selling, it’s best to use neutral colors so potential buyers won’t be turned off by vivid or unusual color schemes they may not like. This is especially true when it comes to carpeting, countertops, and tiling, which are major investments that can kill a sale if they’re too extreme. Similarly, prospective buyers may not be able to envision their furnishings in a room that’s painted in extreme colors.

4. Do you know where you’ll be moving and what type of home you will best suit your future needs? This is especially important as we enter new stages of life, when living in a home with stairs may not be the best choice for our future years. Likewise, area conveniences are another important consideration.

5. What can you do during a real estate slump if homes aren’t selling well? Unless there are extreme reasons forcing you to move, the best thing is to hunker down and ride out the storm. If you have a two-story house and stairs are an issue, consider adding a master bedroom suite to the main floor. This can be an added incentive when you do sell the house, because young couples with children who have live-in help like the idea of having a master bedroom suite on the ground floor for themselves and a second master bedroom upstairs for the nanny, who can sleep closer to the children.

Once you take all these factors into consideration, you may find yourself better prepared to make that final decision.

During the six-year run of my column “Rich Ideas”, a homeowner wrote in to ask if I thought it was a good idea for her to turn her newly married daughter’s bedroom into a large walk-in closet with all the amenities. Not only was that a wonderful way to turn “empty nest syndrome” into a positive thing, but it added valuable – and luxurious – closet space to a home with relatively few closets.

Because major renovations affect a home’s resale value, there are some things that need to be considered before embarking on a project like this.

When it’s eventually time to sell, your home will most likely be sold to a younger family who may need that extra bedroom for their own children. If this type of closet conversion is a permanent one, the loss of that bedroom could be the deal-breaker that makes your house far less salable. In order to avoid this pitfall, make sure your conversion is reversible:

• If there’s a window in the room, don’t board it up or remove it to make a solid wall – instead, use appropriate window treatments.

• If the new closet adjoins the master bedroom and you want to create access to it directly from the bedroom and eliminate access from the hallway, make sure both of those changes can be reversed by the new owners.

• • While accessibility from your room can be advantageous to a family who turns the closet into a nursery, it may not be desirable if the room is to be occupied by an older child.
  • In addition, entry from the hallway will be absolutely necessary if the closet is changed back into a bedroom.

In essence, any major changes made to your house need to be made with future buyers’ needs in mind. Personally, I would never recommend compromising the value of a home by losing a bedroom that can never be converted back, but if these changes are made wisely, you can absolutely have the walk-in closet of your dreams.



A house is a very emotional purchase – potential buyers tend to be swayed by how the house makes them feel when they walk in and whether they can see themselves living there.

Here are a few basic tips to help you make your house “market ready” inside and out:

Indoors – Neat, Warm, Welcoming

•  Keep your house attractive. Prospective buyers can visit at any time.

•  Eliminate clutter.  Before listing your home, eliminate knick-knacks or any other items you won’t be taking with you.

•  Minimize accessories, as they can make a house appear smaller.

•  Give your interior a facelift. Clean carpeting and apply a fresh coat of paint if necessary.  It’s best if the walls have soft, soothing colors – overly dramatic or bland colors can turn buyers off.

•  Rehang pictures after painting.  There’s nothing duller than a house with bare walls.

•  Accessorize just enough to make your rooms colorful and interesting.

Outdoors – Curb Appeal

•  Keep landscaping neat and trimmed. Don’t allow bushes to cover the windows – this not only looks bad outside but it also makes your interior darker.

•  Make repairs to such things as hanging gutters or peeling paint.

•  The front door should be attractive.  It should open and close properly without sticking or squealing.

First impressions last the longest, so you want to present your home in its best possible light.  Remember, your home will never get a second chance to make a first impression.