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 need to reach out to me for any of your real estate needs and please if you enjoy the show which I hope you enjoy it if you don't enjoy it let me know cause I need to know that but if you do enjoy it let me know that as well by liking subscribing rating reviewing commenting any anything you can do whatever platform you're using to watch or listen to the show on yes 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, subscribe all those good things for the show and we will talk again next time!