Thinking of remodeling your house? Hey, welcome to the club (and quite a club it is): An impressive 62% of homeowners are making upgrades to their properties this year. It’s a group bound together by optimism, hard work, planning—and the ever-present potential for complete disaster. Yes, mistakes can be costly in more ways than one, so before you hire a contractor or break out a hammer, read on to learn from homeowners who’ve been there, done that, and sometimes paid the price. What did they regret the most? We set out to find out. Let these homeowners’ stories be your road signs for what to skip, stop, or stand firm on, so you won’t rue the day you ever wondered, “Wouldn’t that backsplash look better with new tile?” How much is too much? “We definitely overcustomized and overimproved our home,” admits Kim King, who invested $60,000 in landscaping and an additional $70,000 for a theater room, among other things, in her New Hampshire home. “We added lots of features that of course we love, but having recently sold the property, I now know that buyers don’t want to pay what we paid to get them. It wasn’t possible to get all of that money back. Not even close, in fact.”
Homeowners’ Worst Renovation Blunders (Are You Guilty of Any?)
