Hello everyone
and welcome to another episode of Selling Greenville
your favorite real estate podcast here in Greenville
South Carolina I'm your host as always
Stan McCune realtor right here in Greenville
and you can find all of my contact information
in the show notes
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you can watch it on YouTube right
if you wanna see my lovely face
it's on there and by the way
this is a great episode to watch on YouTube
cause I'll be showing you guys a lot of data on here
this is gonna be a great report
and it's not gonna be dry data
I think you guys are gonna be really interested in it
cause we're gonna be talking about
the impact of remodeling your house
and remodeling specific spaces
and how that affects the way you perceive your home
the way buyers perceive your home
all these different things
so I'd recommend that you do that on YouTube
and that's actually a great Segway right into this
right because yeah
the National Association of Realtors
they they produce this data I believe every year
but they recently came out with their 2025
Home Remodeling Impact Report
and I'm going to go ahead and
share my screen so you guys can see it
and this is a really useful
report from a standpoint of just being able to
to have data from all over the country
on how remodeling your house affects
its value its marketability
how much joy you have from it
and that's where we're gonna start right
I'm just gonna do these in order
in terms of of how they had these graphics laid out
they start with talking about the top
joy score for remodeling projects
so this is just scale of 1 to 10
how much joy
did remodeling different spaces affect you
and there's some surprising things on here
now I'm not gonna go through every single thing
it would take me forever to do that again
if you're on YouTube
you can see everything that's on here
but I'll just say a few things
so the top three things
were adding a primary bedroom suite
now that's an interesting one to me because obviously
if you don't have a primary suite
which in the past was called a master suite
we're we're kind of getting away from that terminology
if you didn't have it
it's not easy to add a primary suite right
what I'm guessing people are doing
is they're adding a bathroom onto
a bedroom that is currently used as their primary
and turning it into a primary suite
and yes if you do that
absolutely you're gonna get a tremendous
amount of joy out of that because
you're not having to get up in the middle of the night
to use the hallway bathroom right
you can get up in the middle of the night
and use the bathroom as
attached to your bedroom
that got a 10 out of 10 kitchen upgrade
10 out of 10 no brainer
kitchens are spaces that we are using every single day
for the most part and it's not
not surprising that when you upgrade your kitchen
you do you do tend to to like it of course
a lot of homes now are oriented around the kitchen
right so it's also something that you're seeing
even when you're not using it
and and so no surprise
people get a lot of bang out of their buck
upgrading their kitchen now the one that's surprising
the only other 10 out of 10 on here was new roofing
and that surprised me right
from the standpoint of of having joy
cause most people upgrade their roof once it's worn out
or when they have an insurance claim
and I would tend to think that they just kind of
forget about it but I guess from the standpoint of it
just like when you pull up to your home
it just makes your home just have so much more
better curb appeal having a new roof on there
that's the only thing that I can figure
is that people get just
get joy out of just pulling up to their home
and seeing that new roof
underneath that bathroom renovation
kitchen renovation painting a room new wood flooring
etcetera etcetera a little surprised that
basement conversion to living area
only got an 8.8 out of 10
which is in the lower half of joy scores
at least in so far as they were recorded on here
I would think that you convert your
your basement into a living area
that would bring you a tremendous amount of joy
it's not bringing people as much joy as you would think
and the lowest on the list was a garage door
I so presumably I'm
I'm assuming that that means people had a carport
without a garage door and they added the garage door
and that hasn't provided them a lot of joy that well
relative to the others that's not hugely surprising
because a lot of people these days just use their garage
for storage you add that door
it doesn't add a whole lot of utility outside of
now it's keeping your stuff private
which yeah, I'm not super shocked that
that one didn't register super high
alright top cost for
top cost recovery for remodeling projects
in other words
you do these projects
how much can you expect to get back in return
when you sell the home
this also had some interesting
results from it
100% there's only one that got 100% in other words
every dollar that they put into the home
they believe that they got back out of it
was a new steel front door
100% of people that put on a new steel front door
believes that they got back the money out of it
that they put into it I'm surprised by that
underneath that closet renovation got 83%
people the a
a really nice custom closet does stand out to buyers
so that's not super surprising
a new fiberglass front door was the next one 80%
so front doors now you know
I wonder how much of this is that people are
are painting the front doors you know
once they get new front doors
I don't know so it's very interesting
I mean
alternatively a really beat up
banged up front door obviously is
is a terrible first impression
when people are walking into a home
but call me surprised that I am I
I just don't expect you know replacing a front door
to have that much impact but people are reporting it
it has underneath that new vinyl windows
underneath that new wood windows
we come back again to basement conversion
to living area now that one's higher
that one's right in the middle basically of
of this list
whereas on the joy score it was lower so you
it the basement conversion
might not bring you as much joy
as it does to another person other people
it has more value to them than it seems to have for the
homeowner you know
I wonder if that's just because
the homeowner just doesn't know what to do with it
they've never had this converted basement
whereas a person a new buyer that walks in
they immediately have a vision for it perhaps
underneath that is attic conversion to living area
don't see that a whole lot in Greenville right
most of our attics are not large
enough to convert to living space
so that's not usually common
complete kitchen Reno after that minor kitchen upgrade
those are both tied at 60%
new bathroom below that new primary suite below that
then bathroom Reno below that at 50%
so interesting in case you're wondering
how much bang for your buck do you get
according to self reported things
your front door is really important your closet
your windows like those are the
the things that bring you the most bang for your buck
so think about that your front door
your closets being nice and having new windows
now what are the top remodeling projects
realtors recommend sellers do before selling
these are pretty intuitive okay
50% reported that they were told to paint the entire home
yeah, a fresh coat of paint goes a long way
and it's not
surprising that realtors are recommending that because
a that's something that anyone can do right
anyone can paint
and you do get a lot of bang for your buck
like I mean I can't tell you how many times I have a client
they walk a buyer client
they walk into a house that's freshly painted it just shows
so much better than a home that's not freshly painted
especially if it has that new paint smell right
they love that it's kind of like that new car smell
everyone loves that just below painting the entire home
which is hard you know
obviously if you got a 3,000 square foot home
painting the entire home that's hard
but the second thing on here was painting one interior room
okay that makes sense right a lot of times
there's like that teenager's bedroom that's like
you know purple and
and orange for Clemson or something like that
it's just like yeah
let's paint that room a neutral color
below that at 37%
that was at 41% the paint one interior room
41% reported that realtors
asked them to do that
37% said realtors asked told them to do new roofing
not shocking there
because if you've got a completely beat up
worn out worn out roof
that's a problem right
people are gonna notice that
inspectors are gonna notice that and more importantly
homeowners insurance companies are gonna notice that
they're getting stricter and stricter
if your roof is over 10 years old
your homeowners insurance company might say that
we're excluding this from your coverage
and for a lot of homeowners in Greenville
and Spartanburg and Anderson
this entire metro area
that we call the upstate of South Carolina
the primary concern with your homeowners insurance
is making sure that roof is covered
so you don't want that excluded
kitchen upgrade thirty percent
reported that agents told them to upgrade their kitchen
and bathroom renovation was 24%
now interestingly before
we looked at the top cost
recovery for remodeling projects
the bathroom renovation was at the bottom of the list
okay only 50%
felt like they they recovered cost
for their bathroom renovation so
that tells me a well
there's a few different explanations for that right
one is probably people are just spending too much on their
on their bathroom Reno
and bathroom renos can be expensive
whereas we talked about front doors
front doors are cheap so people probably assume
you know I replace the front door it cost me $2,000
I got that money back where's the bathroom renovation
you might spend 15,000 on a you know
a hallway bathroom and not get
you know as much
more for the house as you thought you were gonna get
so you have to make some some calculated decisions
when you're doing something like that
do not over improve your home right
the bathroom might need to be renovated
but you don't want to renovate it too nicely
if that makes sense right
if you've got just a basic you know
280,000 dollar patio home in Simpsonville
you don't need to go into that bathroom with
with the sort of features and fixtures
that you'd have in an 800,000 dollar house in
in Simsbury it just doesn't make sense
a lot of people don't understand that
they don't have the self control
they just they they want to
when they finally get to do that renovation
they want to do it according to their dreams
and what they've seen on Magnolia and HGTV
and all those good things
and the end result is that
you're not gonna get dollar for dollar
what you put into it if you do that
you need to to make very calculated decisions
if you were really concerned about what the ultimate
increase in value is going to be
once you do those up updates all right
next slide the last two years Realtors have seen
seen increased demand for 48% of Realtors said
kitchen upgrades okay no surprise there
we've talked a lot about how buyers are picky right now
buyers want their homes to be perfect
they want kitchens to be beautiful
they want them to be upgraded okay
43% new roofing again we just talked about that
that's more than just an aesthetics thing
that's now becoming a homeowners insurance problem
bathroom renovation
35% have seen increased demand for bathroom renovation
similar to the kitchen upgrade
32% seeing painting the in the interior of the home
increased demand there
and 26% seeing increased demand to complete
kitchen renovation
not merely a kitchen upgrade so that's interesting
so this is why realtors are making these suggestions
for for upgrading these spaces is because
they're seeing increased demand for these things
primary reason for completing the remodeling project
first off to upgrade worn out surfaces
finishes and materials that was 27%
to improve energy efficiency was 19%
we'll sell in the next two years
18% time for a change
18% add features and improve livability 8% modernize
5% just moved into the home
want to customize 4% or lastly
1% to improve organization and storage
people are not
I or organization and storage is important for me
but apparently that's typically not a primary reason
for people completing a remodeling project
none of that is super surprising
and so I'm gonna keep moving on
impact of housing affordability on decision to remodel
89% said housing affordability was not a factor to remodel okay
now you might be wondering
why would that be a factor to remodel okay
well I actually just went through this a few years ago
my house was starting to be aged in terms of
of the way it looked in terms of the color schemes
the granite everything and basically it was like
are we gonna dump 40
50,000 into this home to remodel it
or are we gonna move right
move into a house that has more what we're looking for
we decided to move
now housing affordability was a factor right
that was a consideration
I have friends in New Jersey where I grew up
I still keep in touch with
some of my high school friends
and I hear this from them that in New Jersey
it's so expensive to move
a lot of people are just remodeling right
and they're adding on to their homes
and they're doing all sorts of things to retrofit their homes
so that they don't have to enter the housing market
because they know they're not gonna be able to afford anything
so generally speaking and again this is national data
this isn't Greenville data
generally speaking on the national level
people aren't factoring that in super much
they're remodeling for other reasons
five percent said it was a factor
and they don't want to move due to housing
affordability and 5% said it was
it was a deciding factor they cannot afford
to move due to housing affordability okay
so interesting how the project was paid for
54% paid for it by means of an home equity loan
or line of credit
29% paid for their project using their savings
10% on a credit card
4% on another kind of type of loan
3% from a gift 3% finance for a remodel or a store
so the vast majority of people that are doing
home remodeling projects
are financing it in one way or another
and by far you know
the 54% that are financing it
by means of a home equity loan
or line of credit that is by far the best way to do it
that's you know
going to be much typically much lower
interest than a credit card or another type of loan
or financing through a
through a store financing through a store
perhaps you you might be able to get some kind of
a sweetheart deal but usually not
only 29% are are paying for it through savings and I'm
I'm envious of the 3% that are paying through it
for it by means of a gift
like what a great gift
here's a here's a kitchen remodel for Christmas ha
maybe I'll do that for my kids if I
you know come across gold on my property or something
I don't know
who did the work
29% hired a professional for 100% of the job
24% completely did the job themselves
labor and purchase material
24% hired the labor but purchased the materials
22% contributed some DIY labor
and 1% had assistant shopping
but consumer did the labor okay
so the best the the
the the vast majority have
some sort of help on some level or another
but you have
you know roughly 46% that are contributing
either all or some of to
towards the project okay
but but the majority
are getting professional help on one level or another
with 29% having professional help
the entire way around
completed in time as planned
31% said the project took more time then planned
31% said less time than planned interesting
and 37% said about the same amount of time as planned
so this is pretty equal right
almost a 1/3 of the way
so basically 68% of respondents said it took
as much or even less time than they thought it would
so what this might be the result of is
contractors have slowed down
and they're being more punctual
and that's a good thing we need
we need contractors to to be doing that
I don't want them to be slowing down
but I do like when they are on top of the ball
and actually getting things done
the most important result of remodeling project
28% said the most important result was better function
functionality and livability
23% said beauty and aesthetics
that would be my wife
very focused on that
when it comes to our house projects
23% said durable and long lasting results
materials and appliances
15% said energy efficiencies slash green home
5% better meets needs 4%
better resale 3% adds more personality to home
so for the most part people are remodeling
they're not really thinking about resale
and that's where you might want to consider
talking to a realtor
before you do a remodeling project
don't waste their time
you know if you're not planning to sell anytime soon
but talk to a friend of yours and and just say
you know hey I'm thinking about doing this project
how much do you think that this will
help my resale value
I know some people that have
done things without
asking me how it will help their resale value
and then later on after they've done it
then they involve me in it's just like
it's not gonna help you as much as you thought
so sometimes these these sorts of things happen
but but by far better functionality livability
beauty and aesthetics and durable materials
and appliances
made up the vast majority of things in this list
would you do the project the same way
46% said absolutely exactly the same way
that's great almost half
30% said a few different choices for materials
finishes and or appliances
not bad 23% said they would use a professional
and 1% said they they spent
money elsewhere
I'm interested in the 23%
said they would use a professional
cause if we go back to the who did the work
we just discussed that about 46%
did some or all of the work
and then if you want to add in the
the people that hired the labor
but purchased the material
that bumps the number up to
let's see here bumps the number up to
70% so 70% of people in here and
and really 71%
because there's also that 1% that had assistance
shopping but consumer did the labor so 71% of
of people were involved in
in the project in in some element of the project
and of those
23% wish that they had used a professional
I find that that to be interesting
so don't be be realistic if you can't do the project
don't do the project like no know your limitations
64% hold on let me look at this here okay
enjoyment
46% have increased enjoyment after remodeling
38% have the same level of enjoyment
and 16% have decreased enjoyment
that would be really sad you put money into
into a home remodeling project
and you have decreased enjoyment
maybe you're just
so fed up with the whole process of remodeling a house
or a kitchen or whatever that you're just like
forget this
or maybe the contractor did a really bad job
that's probably more likely
you know you have a
a contractor or perhaps yourself
if you did Diy'd it
did a bad job and now you like it less
that'd be awful
but for the most part
almost half definitely had increased enjoyment
I'm a little bit surprised it's
that's not a higher number 38% same level of enjoyment
that being said sense of accomplishment
55% said finishing the project was a major
sense of accomplishment
25% minor sense of accomplishments so 80
80% of people feel like they accomplish something
when they complete a home re remodel
and then 21%
I don't know how we got over 100% of responses here
most of these tally up to 99%
which makes sense cause usually there's some decimals
that they leave off
I don't know how we got to 101% here
but 21% said they have no feeling either way
we're at the end
we're actually at the final slide here
so a little bit of a quicker episode
but final slide here
consumer would remodel other areas of home
92% said they would remodel more
if cost was not an issue
well yeah obviously
like I I don't really care for that question too much
yeah if cost was not an issue we
we would all do everything to our home
you know we'd make our homes like the Taj Mahal
4% said they would not 5% said they don't know yeah
I think that
that it goes without saying
that the vast majority of people
if cost was not an issue
that they would be doing some major home remodels
so I'm not
really sure why the NRA worded the question that way
but still I think they did a great job
that's the only one that I really don't like
in the survey otherwise
NAR did
did a phenomenal job with that survey
and some interesting results from that
and what I always tell people
you're not typically gonna get
you know when you're doing home projects
you can't expect to get
dollar for dollar back what you put into it
now house flippers
have perfected the science of how to do that
and how to get even more than dollar for dollar back
and that's where realtors come into play
we can help you to understand what are those things
and that's why painting you know
is one of those things
that's why a front door is one of those things
they're cheap you can get back that dollar for dollar
kitchen you might not if you're going from a
a kitchen that might be a
a 6 out of 10 to a seven and a/2 out of 10
you're probably not gonna get back
the money that you put into it
if you go from a kitchen that's terrible
a 3 out of 10 to now it's like an 8 out of 10
you're you're
probably gonna get back more than you put into it
so there's just little considerations like that
but I hope this was helpful for you guys
let me know if you have any questions
my contact info in the show notes
please like, rate, review,
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and we will talk again next time!