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With so many people spending more time in their homes over the last couple of years, millions of homeowners faced the reality that their properties needed some updating or renovation. What used to “work fine” no longer fits the bill. So, whether you plan on living in your Inland Empire home for a while or need to put it on the market soon, here is where you should focus your efforts with your home upgrade for the best return on your investment.
Home Upgrade Areas to Focus On
Flooring
Flooring has come a long way over the past several decades. Today’s buyers love wood flooring. And when I say “wood”, I mean wood laminate, vinyl wood planks, solid hardwood, and engineered hardwood. Carpeting works fine in the bedrooms. But kitchens, hallways, and main living areas need wood flooring. In fact, when you use the same flooring materials throughout all of the main living areas, you make your home’s floor plan appear much larger.
Kitchen
They say that the kitchen is the heart of the home. So, if your “heart” looks a bit worse for wear, you might want to focus your home upgrade efforts there. A bit of paint and new hardware for your cabinets and drawers goes a long way to update an outdated kitchen without breaking your bank. Do your countertops need some zhushing up? According to Better Homes & Gardens, the five best budget-friendly countertops are butcher block, concrete, laminate, solid-surface, and tile.
Bathrooms
Strapped for cash? One room that benefits really well from a home upgrade is the bathroom…especially, the master bathroom. Here, flooring choices can be very important. Replace a shower/tub surround with tile. Paint or replace the cabinets. Add new hardware. Get rid of the wall-sized flat-panel mirror and add one or two framed mirrors above the sink(s) in its place. Place a newer, nicer light fixture above each mirror as well. Newly tiled backsplashes look great in here, too. If you have a good tub in place, you might be able to reglaze it instead of replacing it altogether.
Garage Doors
Finally, this may sound odd, but replacing the garage doors brings you the second-best ROI of any remodeling projects you might tackle on your Inland Empire home. The first is adding/updating a manufactured stone veneer to the exterior of your home. Garage door replacement makes sense. After all, it takes up a huge portion of the front elevation of your home. At an average cost of $3800, it is well worth the monetary investment, too.
Muna Dionne, your Inland Empire specialist with Coldwell Banker Realty
