Looking to sell your house? These home renovation tips are for you

Certain home renovation projects can increase the values of homes, while cleaning and decluttering can help homes sell faster, said Valerie Ursetta, a Greater Akron Realtor with Howard Hanna.
Buyers like to see fresh interior paint in neutral colors, Ursetta said.
Landscaping at a low cost can boost curb appeal, she said.

Given market conditions that they see as unfavorable for home purchases, some area homeowners are staying put and making home repairs to get the most from their current living situation.

Greater Akron home prices have largely been up for the past few years compared to during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, per Redfin. And interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages hover around 6%, according to Bankrate.

Home renovation projects are ways for homeowners to not only get more enjoyment out of their homes but increase the value of their houses before sale and shorten their time on the market.

Valerie Ursetta, a Stow-based Realtor with Howard Hanna, works with clients to buy and sell homes in Summit, Portage and Stark counties. She shared some do’s and don’ts of home renovation with a focus on adding value to properties and getting quick offers on them.

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Don’t ‘over-improve’ the home in attempt to maximize value

Homeowners should speak with their Realtor before committing to any major remodels, Ursetta said. Think twice before replacing your flooring with the highest-end option or completely overhauling your landscaping, she added. This also goes for performing major bathroom and kitchen renovations and painting the entire home exterior.

Big-ticket renovations such as these won’t always provide a dollar-for-dollar return on investment, Ursetta said.

“I always would recommend talking to the Realtor about the value of the home,” she said. “You want to be careful not to over-improve the value because in the end, it might not be there.”

Touch up landscaping at a low cost, clean and paint

Curb appeal is “very important,” Ursetta said, adding that homeowners can improve it through low-cost landscaping.

Decluttering, deep cleaning and neutralizing odors help homes sell faster, she said.

Buyers also like to see fresh interior paint in neutral colors, Ursetta said.

“When somebody walks into a fresh, clean house, with the paint already taken care of, they want to go further,” she said.

If sellers complete these projects, buyers won’t ask for money to be taken off the asking price, Ursetta added.

Consider adding a full or half bath to the home

Homeowners like having two bathrooms, Ursetta said. But she added that some older homes in Greater Akron, such as in Cuyahoga Falls, have three bedrooms and one bathroom.

“When you call me to look at homes — you say, ‘I want three bedrooms and two baths’ — if I put that in the computer, hardly anything comes up,” Ursetta said. “So, I always tell people, ‘Let’s not do that with the bathrooms. Let’s just put one bathroom, and you’re going to get more homes'” to choose from.

On the seller side, installing a second full or half bath taps into that demand, Ursetta said.

You can complete some projects on your own, but contract out others

Painting the interior of the home — again, in neutral colors — is something that a homeowner can often do on their own, Ursetta said.

If homeowners are planning a bathroom install or renovation and have the experience laying floors, they can lay new flooring themselves.

“But when you’re adding a new bath, I think that maybe the people buying the house might want to see who did the work,” she said. “Who’s the contractor? … And we have that information. So, if anything goes wrong, we call that contractor.”

Make minor repairs to light fixtures, cabinetry hardware

Making minor repairs, such as installing ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) plugs and updating light fixtures and cupboard hardware can shorten the time that the home stays on the market, Ursetta said.

Homeowners who know how to install GFCI plugs often do that work on their own, she said.

Addressing light fixture and cabinetry hardware installations, Ursetta said, “I think that’s something that a homeowner can do themselves.”

Patrick Williams covers growth and development for the Akron Beacon Journal. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @pwilliamsOH. Sign up for the Beacon Journal’s business and consumer newsletter, “What’s The Deal?”

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