Dana Bull has experience when it comes to increasing a home’s value.
The 33-year-old real estate investor bought her first property, a condo in Salem, Massachusetts, for $200,000 in 2012. Two and a half years later, after putting about $10,000 worth of work into the property, she turned a tidy profit.
“I made about $50,000,” she told Insider. That’s roughly a 20% return on investment.
It helped that the market was really starting to take off at the time, she noted. But her upgrades, which included new appliances, countertops, and paint, certainly played a role.
Today, Bull is financially independent from a 22-unit rental portfolio that she built in five years, but she still works in real estate full-time as a licensed agent and consultant. She’s advised hundreds of buyers, sellers, and investors across the country.
If you’re thinking about selling your home and looking for ways to increase its value, focus on two rooms, she advised: “Kitchens, primarily, and baths sell houses. That’s where you’re generally going to get the most ROI.”
You don’t necessarily have to break the bank to upgrade your kitchen and bathroom.
If you’re truly on a shoestring budget, Bull’s favorite hack is to spend a couple hundred dollars on a consultation with a decorator or designer. They’ll tell you what paint color to use or where to put specific furniture, for example, and then you can do those things yourself.
“If you’re on a budget, you especially do not have room for error,” she said. Sure, it can be expensive to have a professional redesign your entire space, “but you don’t need someone to do your whole house,” she noted. “You can pay somebody $150 to help you pick out paint colors, and having the right paint is one of the top ways to improve value.”
That’s what she does every time she buys a new property. It’s the “best money you can spend,” she said. Go to your local paint store and ask if they have a designer or color consultant who can help you select paint for your home specifically. You can also work with a virtual design company that does interior mockups. They’ll recommend what type and size furniture to buy and where to place it to elevate your space.
“I’ve done a lot of this kind of stuff and it’s fascinating,” said Bull. “I never would have thought to put the couch in one particular spot, or the bed in another, for example.”
Unless you’re truly an expert in design, it’s often worth it to pay a professional, she added: “I’m a real estate agent. I have a general awareness of design, but at the end of the day, my area of expertise is negotiating and transactions. There are people who have dedicated their lives to learning about layout and proportions and color. It’s usually advantageous to work with somebody who really knows what they’re doing.”
If you choose not to work with a professional decorator, a general rule of thumb is to stick with neutral colors that make a space feel bright and airy. That’ll appeal to the masses, as will white cabinets and stainless steel, said Bull: “You can’t go wrong with light and clean.”
If you have the budget to install new appliances or flooring, be conscious of your marketplace. The materials and products you end up choosing should depend on the price-point of your home.
For example, “if you put a Frigidaire in a million-dollar property, that may not sit well with people,” explained Bull. On the flip side, “if you put a Viking stove in a lower price-point property, that’s overkill.”
As for where not to spend money, avoid customized features that appeal to you but not necessarily to the masses.
“Be careful with anything that is super custom to you, your taste, or your lifestyle, like a really unique wallpaper,” said Bull. “Go for it if you’re okay knowing that it may not help your bottom line. You just need to pause and ask yourself, ‘If I do this upgrade, am I going to get enough value and enjoyment out of it?’ Because you might not see the return on investment when you go to sell.”
Before you take on any remodel or renovation projects, set your budget. Then, prioritize the kitchen and bathroom.
“You might not have $30,000 to redo your whole kitchen, but maybe you have $10,000 and you can reglaze your kitchen cabinets so that they’re white or add some molding to them or put on new knobs, all of which will add value.
“If you don’t have the budget to do everything, figure out where you’re going to get the most bang for your buck.”
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