Home remodels- where save and where to splurge

From a Realtor's perspective, remodeling choices should also take future homebuyers into account and how much you'll be able to recoup your investment.Overspending could possibly price your home out of your neighborhood, but "cheaping out" could leave your home lacking quality and appeal.

Here are some tips on making sure you see a return on your investment:

Stay with neutral options: Remodels that are too customized or unusual can turn off buyers. Purple wall-to-wall carpet or a walk-in-shower bathroom might sound great to you, but probably wouldn't fit the majority of most homeowners' needs or wants.

Avoid non-standard sizes or finishes: Custom  choices in cabinets, countertops, exterior finishes, and more will also add heavily to your remodeling cost. This isn't always necessary.  Most often you can steer clear of  a full line of custom kitchen cabinets, when semi-custom would do. Even better, if your cabinets are structurally fine, refacing or staining the doors will be cheaper than replacing them altogether

Spend more on quality items that are hard to replace: Permanent fixtures like the bathtub should take priority over ones that you can improve later when you have more money such as the faucet. Likewise, radiant floor heating isn't that expensive to install, but that is if you do it when you're replacing a floor.

Floors and other materials: Laminate flooring, when installed properly are a pretty good looking alternative to hardwood floors. If you already have wood floors, refinish them instead of replacing them.

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