Real Estate Rules

5 ways to maximize your Austin home's value — and 5 features that'll cost you

Carpet is a no-no.

Photo courtesy of Opendoor

When it comes to selling a home, one thing is certain: homeowners always want to get top dollar. To boost their home's value, many embark on renovation projects hoping, but not knowing, that those upgrades will significantly increase their bottom line when it comes time to sell. Questions like, "Will I see my money back from that bathroom facelift?" or "Is installing quartz countertops in my kitchen worth it?" abound.

As we head into the slower fall real estate season, when many homeowners opt to stay put and contemplate selling next year, the list of potential projects might be top of mind. So what should you focus on? If you want to tackle just one project this year, what should it be?

Local real estate company Opendoor just launched a Home Improvement Value Calculator that eliminates the mystery by enabling homeowners to see how much certain upgrades can increase their overall home value.

Looking at Opendoor data for homes valued around $400,000 in Austin (close to the current median price), here are the five upgrades that typically provide the biggest boost, along with the average increase in value:

Add a pool: $34,000 (8.5 percent increase)
Add 150 square feet of interior living space: $22,550 (5.64 percent)
Add a second or third bedroom: $21,800 (5.45 percent)
Add a full bathroom: $18,800 (4.7 percent)
Add hardwood flooring: $15,550 (3.89 percent)

Opendoor also looked at data from the past year to identify which existing home features could be costing homeowners thousands. Here are the top five offenders, along with the average reduction in value for each:

Carpet as primary floor type: -$5,500
Located on busy street: -$4,800
Low-quality cabinetry: -$4,000
Plastic tub or shower enclosure: -$2,500
Black or white appliances (as opposed to stainless steel): -$2,000

As one of the largest acquirers of single-family homes throughout Austin, Opendoor is able to analyze individual home features and understand how they add to (or detract from) the overall value of a home. The company has been keeping Austin buyers and sellers in the loop on real local estate trends since late last year, and has served over 500 local customers.

For sellers not interested in undertaking stressful, pricey renovation projects to get their home "open-house ready," Opendoor is a dream come true. Homeowners can go to opendoor.com to begin the no-obligation process today and Opendoor will provide a competitive, all-cash offer within 24 hours, regardless of whether or not a home has been remodeled.

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Opendoor's calculator is offered for educational purposes and is not a guarantee of return on investment. Individual results may vary.

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Rent report

Kyle's apartment rent prices rivaled Austin's, surpassed suburbs in June

The City of Kyle, TX - Local Government/Facebook

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Apartment rent prices in June were more expensive in Austin and Kyle than they were anywhere else in the metro, according to the latest monthly rental report from Zumper.

The rent report, which analyzed active listings from the previous month across all cities in the Austin area, tracks the most and least expensive rent prices for one- and two-bedroom apartments, and determines the cities with the fastest growing rents. Listings were aggregated by city to calculate median asking rents.

Despite being the most expensive rent in the region last month, the asking rent for one-bedroom apartments in both Austin and Kyle technically hasn't risen or decreased since this time last year. The asking rent for one-bedrooms in both cities remained flat year-over-year at $1,500. For two-bedroom units, asking prices in Austin grew 0.5 percent to $1,910, and prices came out to $1,780 in Kyle.

Zumper's report revealed that the median asking rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Texas came out to $1,134 last month, but there was no figure given for two-bedroom units. All eight Austin-area cities had higher asking prices than the statewide median.

Round Rock had the third most expensive rent for one-bedroom apartments in June, with asking rent for single-bedroom units at $1,320, and $1,630 for two-bedroom units.

Rent prices in Pflugerville were the cheapest in the Austin area last month, as prices for one-bedroom apartments fell to to $1,190. That's 6.3 percent lower than they were a year ago, and it was the most dramatic year-over-year decrease out of all Austin-area cities. Two-bedroom apartment prices also plunged 6.5 percent from last June to $1,730.

These were the prices for one-bedroom apartments in the remaining four Austin-area cities in June:

Georgetown – $1,290
Cedar Park – $1,280
Leander – $1,270
San Marcos – $1,210

June asking prices for two-bedroom units in the four suburbs were:

Georgetown and Cedar Park– $1,720
Leander – $1,590
San Marcos – $1,530

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