How Home Remodeling Can Backfire During a Probate Sale

Most homeowners consider a renovation to improve the resale value of their home. While it's true that improvements such as an updated bathroom and kitchen can help sell your home quickly, that's not always the case. Some home renovations or repairs can actually backfire during a probate sale.

Experimenting or over personalizing your home can reduce its value as bad renovations can turn off potential buyers. Remember, not only that it can be difficult to find the right buyer but probate sales take time too. So if you're planning to make renovations, make sure to consult with your probate attorney first.

What Is a Probate Sale?

Before anything else, let's first have a brief of what a probate sale is all about.

A probate sale is simply about selling a home with the intervention of a court. It means before a buyer successfully owns your house, they would need to win first in court. Homes that are under probate sales are those where the homeowner dies without a will bequeathed to an heir or those properties that need to be sold to liquidate the asset.

Probate sales can be enticing to buyers as it is priced mostly below the market value of the property. Albeit, the sales process can be a bit complicated and lengthier as the court will have to supervise and approve the sale first. Hence, risking to renovate without your attorney's counsel can cause problems or deter buyers.

If you are still itching to renovate, then it's crucial to do your research. Resist personalizing it to avoid dragging down the resale value of your home. Now, here are common renovations that can potentially backfire.

Too Much Color

Bold, unusual, or too much color can cause strong objection with potential buyers. Overly personalizing your home such as painting the walls with your favorite colors can negatively affect its appeal to most buyers. Thus when trying to up the resale value of your home, it's always best to keep things plain and simple.

Experts suggest painting with neutral colors instead, as it's the safest. This may make your home more likable and radiate a minimal yet sophisticated look.

Eliminating a Bedroom or Powder Room

Indeed, in this modern age, we all like large and open spaces. However, during a probate sale, eliminating a powder room or a bedroom is not a very good idea. If you're planning to combine two bedrooms to create a larger master bedroom, experts frankly don't recommend it. And so as turning a powder room into a master closet.

Simply put, the idea to remove any walls to make your space appear larger or spacious can reduce your home's value. This is because you are in turn reducing the number of rooms in your house. Most buyers nowadays prefer more rooms than just one grand master suite.

Renovations Without Permit

Most major renovations require a permit, in fact, even some minor ones. In general, almost all local governments would expect you to request a permit first before proceeding with the renovation. This is to ensure that all your home renovations are up to code.

Many potential buyers are wise enough to ask you about permits in case renovations are done. This serves as their protection, so they may expect you to provide them with copies of permits too. Moreover, depending on your area, your home may be subjected to an inspection before it is sold. So improvements made without the necessary permits can put your renovation at risk of being torn out and redone or obligated to pay a fine.

Therefore, it is simply not a good idea to continue with any, especially major, unpermitted home improvement work.

Final Thoughts

Renovation and repair work can improve the overall value of your home providing you make the right decision. When you are unsure if your home improvement project can work in your favor or if it can potentially backfire, it's best to consult an expert or your attorney first. During the probate sale, you don't want to do anything that can drag down your home's value.

The key is to thoroughly do your research and resist over personalizing the design of your home. After all, you will not stay in it for long.