CHASE & CHASE

Maybe you're considering home improvements to increase its value.  There are two reasons for pursuing home improvement projects:

1. You Just Want To Do It: You want some new features in a home to improve your family's quality of life, but you don't want to leave your current home.
   
   
2. You Really Need To Do It: You want to make your home more marketable to maximize return (or minimize loss) and speed up the sale process.
   
   In the right market conditions, a project might fit into both categories. Other times, though, the two approaches will conflict:

Really Need To Do It - The "type-B" home improvement project is pursued primarily to increase the property's saleability. In turn, this often increases your return on investment. A good real estate agent can advise you of possible improvements that will attract more potential buyers and also pay for themselves either through increasing the home's value or through shortening the time it takes to sell the home.

Here we're typically talking about projects such as: painting - either because the existing paint is in bad shape or is an unusual color; replacing carpets - again because of age, color or style; repairing or resurfacing a cracked driveway or sidewalk; refacing kitchen cabinets; and trimming or removing overgrown or unattractive landscaping.

While spending several thousand dollars on your home right before you sell it might not sound very appealing, it's not uncommon for the right work to more than pay for itself in a higher selling price and shorter marketing time.

Consult with an experienced real estate agent to learn what improvements will make your home more marketable in comparison to similar properties that are now - or recently have been - on the market in your area.