Before You Remodel That House in Sacramento

Call your Sacramento Realtor before you remodel that house.

Before you remodel that house in Sacramento, for crying out loud, call a Sacramento Realtor who’s been around the block. An agent can give you valuable advice. Because some day, maybe not now, maybe not for years, you will sell that house.

I’ll help you, and I’ll recall our discussion when you’re ready to sell later. It’s a small miracle I remember other things, like what year it is. Much less the month and day. There is so much nostalgia going on that it’s like the 1960s all over again. OK, no smoke-filled rooms and we’re all walking around toting water bottles instead of bongs, but you get the point. The clothes, the TV shows, the home furnishings, they all yell groovy, baby. Or maybe it just seems that way with Mad Men reruns and that new show, Good Girls Revolt.

I don’t think so, though. I’ve got clients who absolutely adore Mid Century. Mid-Century homes, especially in Sacramento, are in high demand. In fact, homes of any character tend to sell faster and for more money than cookie-cutter boring homes. It’s like the difference between a 1950 Buick and a 2012 Camry. Style, curves, angles, real steel, heavy metal construction versus cheap plastic boxes.

The problem comes about when it seems like it’s in our DNA to want to remodel. To modernize. OK, maybe I’m just talking about myself. But when I think back about homes I have torn apart and remodeled, I cringe. I shouldn’t have done it. I should have heeded my own advice and warnings I give others: before you remodel that house, look at it from the eyes of future owners.

I need to apologize to the owners of those homes now. I can’t believe, for example, that I actually put up hunter green wallpaper and installed hunter green ceramic tile in a home on the lake in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. I’m sorry.

I am very sorry that I installed white cabintry with oak trim in a Cape Cod by Lake Nokomis in South Minneapolis. What was wrong with me? I’m sorry.

I apologize for the perfectly hideous Pergo floor in a kitchen in Whittier. Sounded like such a good idea at the time. I’m sorry.

Thank goodness I came to my senses in Sacramento.

But at least I can say I never ripped out 1940s cabinetry and replaced it with tasteless cherrywood and granite counters. Some homes deserve better. They deserve to be preserved and admired. Restored, if possible. Not stripped of all character, detail and design to try to conform to what we might call modern standards. What we call modern doesn’t last very long. It’s really a trend. It’s not modern. There is a difference between the two.

So, before you raise that sledgehammer ask yourself this question: Are you doing more harm than good? Maybe you should set down that sledgehammer and move away from the counters. Before you remodel that home, why not call a real estate agent to ask if you’re damaging your home before embarking on a home improvement project you cannot easily reverse.