Important considerations before renovation of a home
"Realistic Budget Goals"
This is the forth post of seven part series. Please check back often to see the next one.
Step 4: "Champaign taste & Beer budget?!"
Are you realistic about your project goals, or have a Champaign taste & Beer budget?! That is one of the big stumbling blocks when folks try to define their project goals. Just because you have a really good taste in design and products, does not mean that could mean a good return on investment. There's nothing wrong with dreaming but when it comes to real world of remodeling, one has to be quit calculating.
Like any type of investment, it’s important from early on to consider your choices and the possible consequences of those choices in home renovation. If you have followed the previous steps, you should have a pretty good idea where you stand with respect to scope of your project and the appropriate budget.
Understanding costs and staying true to the budget, which realistically reflects your project goals and priorities, is the most important step at this point.
In my experience working with clients, most people don’t have a clear idea what the budget is about and what it really means? It doesn’t necessarily mean how much what you have in mind costs, or how much you have in the bank or can borrow. It means to think strategically what needs to be done to create a balance between your needs and the relative costs.
Ideally to arrive at the right budget requires prioritizing what you want and determine how much you are supposed to invest. Just because you like a certain product, idea or design features, don’t ignore the realistic impact it might have on your overall budget and how it could affect the bottom line. Which at times it could also mean spending more than what you had initially intended.
I recall on one project, the client had a relatively limited scope and budget for their project. However, once we began looking at the big picture and exploring the project options, it became apparent that for the given property and neighborhood the initial considerations were too limiting and would fall short of the project’s full potential and additional elements and design considerations could provide a much higher outcome. Although that was going to increase the budget, it was pretty apparent that the end result will bring a much greater value and rate of return. It turned out the project was so successful that a few years later the house was sold well above the average price of the homes in their neighborhood.
Steps presented earlier are great tools to determine the final budget. Length of your stay, market forces, the design features, etc. are all important considerations in this calculus. Make sure you are realistic and aware of the consequences and also allow for "unforeseen expenses."
Do your initial homework and unless for some reasons financial factors and project goal considerations have dramatically changed, don't let yourself fall in the trap of talking yourself into going beyond the goals you have set forth at the onset.
Which bring us to the next step and is one that a lot of people stumble on; “We Might As well Syndrome.” Can you tell what that means?!
Remember, this is only the step four of seven steps. To make the right decision and avoiding pitfalls, you need to consider a few more important things, before moving forward.