To understand how to increase a home’s resale value, focus on kitchens and baths — they can make or break a realty deal. No matter how perfect a location, first impressions of your home’s interior are a vital selling point. What a potential buyer immediately thinks when they walk through the door will stick, which is compounded as they walk about your house. Consciously or subconsciously, they’re comparing their impressions of your home’s value with other properties they’re viewing.
What makes a good impression on a buyer? For ideas on how to help a home sell quicker, think about how a buyer might feel walking through the kitchen or bathroom. Good first impressions come from bright, modern kitchens and updated bathrooms.
Those positive impressions from the bath help a home sell quicker, and they’re going to increase your home’s resale value. Having a gleaming, clean bathtub is a critical component in impressing buyers and swaying them towards making a decent offer. A refinished bathtub can mean more buyers and better offers.
Bathtubs as a Focal Point
The proper design makes a bathtub’s position a key element in the layout and visual appeal of a home. Expert designers know how to arrange a bathroom so the tub is a feature, and they use it to amplify the impression of space and, of course, luxury. They want the bathtub to be inviting. It must beckon with a sense of warmth and relaxation.
Professional interior designers are acutely aware that proper layout and use of bathroom fixtures anchor the room. Great effort goes towards making sure the right fixtures are chosen and placed for maximum aesthetic and practical effect. Vanities with sinks are usually placed closest to the entrance, while toilets and bidets are moved from the sightline. Often, toilets are placed around a corner or even in a separate room.
Choosing Bathtub Colors
Great bath designers know the value of color. Color fashions change with the ages. Thankfully, the days of avocado green and pale pink are gone. Today’s bathroomfixtures are overwhelmingly white — a return to the timeless taste of antiques like your grandmother’s claw foot tub and her water closet with the high-mounted tank.
The raspberry reds and aqua blues are extinct in new homes and so are harvest golds and jet blacks. You couldn’t give those once-trendy fixtures away today. Unfortunately, many homes constructed in that era still have bath fixtures built into the walls, set into the counters and bolted to the floor that harken to days of bygone trends.
Having old, worn and stained bath fixtures in your home is going to have a negative impact on a prospective buyer’s first impression. While your home may be in an excellent location and otherwise well presented, the condition and color of your bath fixtures are going to have a major impact on perceived value.
A worn tub gives the impression of worn plumbing, and plumbing replacements are a fear of many prospective homebuyers. No doubt, a buyer is going to consider the cost of replacing that out-of-date tub, the toilet, the fixtures and all the pipes that go with them, which may mean a discounted offer.
That low-ball offer may be significant. Buyers perceive a worst-case scenario and the suggestion of a major bathroom renovation due to a shabby tub might be enough to make a buyer believe they’ll have to invest thousands of additional dollars to bring your bath up to their expectations. They’ll see a tub replacement as expensive — and they’re right.
Replacing an Out-Of-Date Bathtub Is Expensive
Renovations can be pricey. Whether you are up for the task or hire a contractor, replacing an out-of-date bathtub isn’t cheap. Removal and replacement is one thing, hidden costs are another. Every renovator knows when the walls are opened up, all sorts of unpleasant surprises can be exposed.
Total replacement of a tub to get your home to sell faster may not have the best return on investment. But upgrading your bathtub to a modern look is part of how to increase a home’s resale value. If you’re considering a bath renovation as part of your strategy to get your house ready to sell or to increase home value for appraisal, consider the most economical approach for getting the maximum impact for the least cost.
It might not be the best investment to remove and replace a bathtub when a far more efficient and lower cost alternative is available — to refinish your existing bathtub and bring it up to modern standards with a fresh appearance that looks as if it’s brand new. This simple solution is often done by sharp homeowners working with experienced realtors in getting a home ready to show. It’s called staging.
Staging Your Home to Increase Resale Value and a Quicker Sale
Leading real estate sales people are experts in knowing how to stage a home for the best chance at a fast purchase and at the maximum price. They know the impact that first impressions have on a buyer, even if the home’s location is not optimal. Location can be offset by quality, and that’s often measured by the visual appearance of what’s in the kitchen and how the bathrooms come across.
Staging a home for sale is all about visual impact. Staging is a proven method of for making your home sell faster. It’s also about getting the highest price in a competitive market. Staging involves making everything in your home appear clean and inviting. It goes from furniture placement to creating inviting odors from fresh flowers or baking cookies. And staging carries right through to the bath.
You may have an older home with an attractive kitchen with today’s granite counters and stainless steel appliances. It may look good and smell good, but if your bathroom shouts of a time gone by and says it needs a major facelift, it might just be that turn-off that kills your deal. Fortunately, there’s an easy solution for upgrading dated bathtubs and sinks. It’s called refinishing.
Refinished Bathtub Increases a Home’s Resale Value
There is no doubt refinishing your bathtub or basins will increase your home’s resale value. This may be the best return on investment you can make in getting your home to sell quicker. It may also be the best value in investment, especially when compared to the time, disruption and expense of entirely replacing your tub.
Refinishing your bathtub costs far less than replacing it. When you have your tub professionally refinished by a reputable company like Al & Dave & Sons, you’re guaranteed to get a tub that looks like new at a fraction of the price. It’s quick, easy, and considerably less hassle than taking on a do-it-yourself project of ripping out your old tub and trying to squeeze a new one through a door that’s too small.
Refinishing your tub is a much better option than hiring a renovator to do a tub removal and replacement. Refinishing a tub involves one professional company like Al & Dave & Sons to come in and do an amazing job of restoring an old stained tub and leaving it gleaming white. Removing a tub may involve numerous trades including a contractor, a plumber, a tile setter, and a painter.
Refinishing a tub is the most affordable option for updating your home on a budget. It’s a faster solution than replacing a tub, and the result will be almost indistinguishable. In fact, the average purchaser and their professional real estate agent are not going to be able to tell that your tub has been refinished. They’re going to naturally think you’ve renovated the bathroom and brought your home up to current standards.
Refinished Bathtub Brings a Sense of Value
A prospective buyer takes many small details into account when making a decision about what’s likely to be the biggest investment in their lives. Turning your home into theirs is an emotional decision as well as a financial one. A buyer is just like you. They want the assurance they’re getting value for their money, and it’s the little things that add up.
Having a newly refinished bathtub is going to speak silently to a buyer. It says you’ve cared for the home and invested in its longevity. They see that as being a value that’s passed on to them. Nothing shows your care and attention to detail better than a beautiful bathroom that a new owner can take pride in.
A stained, chipped or rusted bathtub will do the opposite. Older fixtures, like cast-iron and enamel finished bathtubs, may still be in excellent shape in their strength and capacity. They may show a character that reflects the period they were installed, and that’s part of the charm of owning a character home.
Keeping your vintage tub may be non-negotiable in retaining the spirit of how and when your home was built. Many buyers are looking for exactly that. They want the fixtures and features of timeless taste and reflective representation that you can’t always find in many homes. However, they want the fixtures to be clean and attractive. Simply refinishing a tired tub is the perfect way to freshen a dull presence and make it shine.
It’s the combination of care that tells the eyes and the hearts of a homebuyer your home is the one for them. They’re looking for value. Refinishing a tub is one part of adding value, and it can offer a huge return when done right. Hiring the right company to refinish your old tub is part of that critical staging step that increases your home’s resale value.