UPGRADES GALORE!  How many times have you seen this or a similar statement in real estate ads or Multiple Listings only to discover the "upgrades" consist of:

• New roof
• New furnace
• Freshly painted
• New water heater
• New carpet throughout
• New bathtub in master
• New kitchen appliances
• New windows
• New electrical system
• New garage door and opener

 I hate to be the bearer of bad news…but these items are NOT upgrades. They are things we do to maintain our homes in their normal condition (or bring a house UP to normal condition in the case of old houses or distress sales). Things wear out or get outdated. They need to be replaced. We need to do it whether we plan to sell the home or stay there, forever.  They don't necessarily make your home "more valuable,"  just "more saleable."

How a home looks, how appealing it is, is what makes a buyer want to look inside.  I recently had a seller say (because we kept getting "too dated" )feedbacks, from the showing agents, "are they seeing all the updates?" (those were the things mentioned above).  I had to explain, people don't buy a home based on when the a/c was replaced ...they have to first fall in love with the house (by its beauty & appeal), then when they write an offer, the conditions of all the rest will come up in an inspection, way on down the line.  First things, first.

When you buy a used car, you don't care how it looks under the hood or how often the oil's been changed if the interior seats are worn and ripped or the exterior paint is peeling.  You'll never get to what condition the engine is in because it had no "appeal" to begin with, to get you to that point.  Understand?
It's the same way with buying a home. 

Maintaining a home may make your home more desirable over a home that has 'deferred maintenance,' but they do not add any value in the way of money. And you can't add the cost of this maintenance to the price of your home and expect to get it back.  Just like when people put in a $35,000 pool, they won't be able to add that amt. to the price of the house or it will never sell or even be looked at.  They'll be lucky if the appraiser gives them an extra $5000-10,000 but they won't get what they paid for it. 

So what is an upgrade? It is defined as "to raise to a higher grade or standard." So if we go back to our list above, upgrades that could enhance the value of a home might look like this:

• New roof (40 year, top-of-the-line cedar shake roof with pressure-impregnated fire retardant and transferable warranty)
• New furnace (high efficiency, high-conductivity radiant warm board heating system installed in the past 6-12 months)
• New ceiling fans (Casablanca  ceiling fans in every room)
• Freshly painted (interior professionally painted with Benjamin Moore's low VOC 'Aura' formula)
• New water heater (new high-efficiency, tankless heat-on-demand water heater)
• New carpet throughout (Mohawk high-density, plush wool "top of the line" carpet throughout)
• New bathtub in master (jetted Jacuzzi tub in master)
• New kitchen appliances (Quiet dishwasher, Kitchen-Aid gas stove with warming drawer, sub-zero refrigerator, confection oven)
• New windows (windows replaced with  energy star windows)
• New electrical system (200 amp service and "one touch" whole house back-up generator)
• New garage door and opener 

Are you understanding now? Think of home maintenance as the things you have to do but don't really want to.    Think of upgrades as the "wish I could have that" things you daydream about. It's the upgrades that enhance  and/or increase the value of your home - not normal maintenance.