The concept of value engineering in renovation has never been more essential than it is today. At the start of 2009 we can still hear all sort of commotion about slow economy and troubles in the real estate market. All this should awaken renovators who are planning to increase the value of their homes, that a small miss-calculation or an over-renovation could easily destroy their profit or worse result in a complete loss.
Let me be clear, slow economy and slow real estate market does not mean that you can not remodel your home to increase its value. What it means is that you need to know what to renovate and how much to renovate in order to turn a good profit. At first sight this may seem simple; however, there is more involved than a simple question from your local renovator. To fully maximize your profit you need to understand value engineering in regard to home renovation.
Simply put value engineering in respect to home renovation is the process by which you analyze to determine what renovations will bring in the most profit for your home. Here we are going to quickly discuss the steps that must be taken to determine how to maximize your profit.
1) The first step in this process is to determine the market value of your home as well as market value of renovated homes similar to your home in your area. This is done to find out whether there is any room to profit. If the price for your un-renovated home is close to the price of a renovated similar home nearby, renovation could be a waste of time and money.
Remember, the key words are “similar homes” and “in your area”. There is no point comparing your home that is built on a 20 x 100 parcel of land to a home built on a 5 acre land as you are not able to stretch the size of your land. Also the comparables that you choose must be near your home, preferably on the same street or just few homes down the road from your home. You can obtain market value of these renovated homes from your local real estate office or from a qualified appraiser.
2) The second step is to determine how much value each renovation adds to your home. This information can be obtained from your local real estate office or a qualified appraiser. Real estate salespersons and appraisers for most part use a process called CMA (comparable market analysis) to determine your home value. In short the appraiser looks at similar properties sold recently near your home.
Using his/her extensive database, the appraiser is able to adjust the price based on the condition of various areas of your home as well as any new additions. For example the database indicates that an additional second bathroom in your area increases home value by $8000, updated kitchen increase value by $6000, Second garage does not impact the value and etc. This is how your local real estate salesperson is able to price out your home.
3) The third step is to determine the cost for each renovation. Make sure to get price estimate from at least three qualified contractors
4) The final step is to analyze your findings in step 2 and step 3 to determine what renovation(s) will yield the most profit.
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