Okay, so I’ve become that neurotic homeowner completely obsessed with finishing every detail of the 7 year home renovation of my house on Fairmont.  Frankly 7 years of renovation is for the birds and I don’t recommend it to anyone, but it does bring up a good question – when is enough, enough when it comes to renovating a home – particularly an old home with never ending needs!  To the best of my ability, I’ve been trying to follow the following three rules in determining if I should or should not…

1. Will my ultimate buyer value the improvement (aka pay more money for the house) or will he or she not recognize the true cost?  A good example of this is in bathroom tile selection.  Good grief, you can spend thousands on special tile flown in from the West Indies, but it looks like what you might find at Home Depot on Rhode Island Ave.  Will the buyer pay for the premium tile upgrade – probably not.
2. What is the market expectation for my desired price point and market category?  For example, if all the homes in Columbia Heights above 900K have gorgeous kitchen renovations – mine should too.  No element of your home should stick out like a sore thumb – unless you’re selling AS IS and then price accordingly.
3. Don’t be controversial in your material selections.  I may love dark red in the bedroom, or the stunning nude portrait in the dining room (no, I don’t have one) but controversial elements can become negative focal points in your home causing buyers to walk away.  Don’t be that seller who has very “specific” taste that pigeon holes your home into a certain category of buyers. 

So onward – two more phases left and then I’m ready to sell!

Via Cyberhomes:

Calling themselves the “Weapons of Mass Construction,” complete with official T-shirts, nine neighbors in Sacramento, Calif., banded together for two years to tackle home improvement projects on a rotating basis. From building raised garden beds to remodeling an entire garage, members of the five households took turns working on each other’s homes, finishing projects in one party-like day that would have taken several weekends of back-breaking work on their own. For homeowner Michelle Johnston, that speed was the group’s biggest advantage. “It’s amazing how much work you can get done in a day when eight or nine people are involved,” she says.

Layton Turner, the Cybehomes contributor who wrote the aritlce, interviewed me for the piece:

Expect to see more neighborhood cooperation in the near future, says Realtor Brandon Green of Brandon Green & Associates in Washington, D.C. When money is tight, homeowners cut back on home maintenance, often out of necessity, he explains. One of the first things to go is exterior upkeep.

Unfortunately, deferred maintenance can impact the whole neighborhood, potentially devaluing nearby properties. But Green is seeing more neighbors banding together to pitch in and help out, “sometimes with [the homeowner’s] approval and sometimes not.” They may make needed repairs, paint or cut the grass.

These gatherings are a great way of interacting with your neighbors saving money, improving your home, and having fun.