where should people look if they’re going to remodel a home, buy a home, build a home?

Where would you recommend them buying or building?

Location-wise?

Location-wise, how do you hold your value?

Well, location is going to depend on a lot of things.

You know, the school districts you want to be in, proximity to your work, you know, how quickly you want to be able to get on the freeway, or how quiet you want to be away from the freeway, all sorts of things.

But I can certainly tell you, and just from our experience, we know, like, here’s some things not to do.

Be really careful about homes with a lot of level changes, where you come into it, then you kind of walk up into that dining area, then you walk down into that living room area.

Several home builders, you know, at a time in the 90s, that was kind of a popular thing to do.

Early 2000s, you know, there was a wave of floor plans where they made a lot of level changes in them.

And those homes are really hard to renovate, because you’re really locked in to the use of that design of those spaces.

There’s no effective and there’s no cost-effective way to remodel those homes.

I notice a lot of times with our clients is, you’ll get clients that really pencils for homes like the Ridges, McDonald Highlands, even areas like in Section 10 or Scotch 80s, even Northwest homes that have custom acreages, like they’re on half-acre lots or bigger.

I notice that a lot of the times when we work with clients, those pencils, we sometimes will have clients, I just met the client on last Wednesday, and they actually had a smaller track home, but it was in Green Valley in the Henderson area.

And they didn’t care about the value, they just wanted, they’re very into cooking, they make sourdough bread, and they’re like, we want it to not be too crazy of a budget, but we’re also willing to go higher on the budget, because we know we’re going to be in this house for the next 10 to 15 years, and we just want it to be nice.

And I thought that was an interesting concept, because they asked me a question, they said, Lincoln, how often do you remodel a home that’s this small?

And I said, not often, maybe one or two a year about this size, but it works because it’s for them.

And I think it’s just interesting to see, as I reflect on the different areas that we do remodel, where does pencil, where does make the most sense, and where they do get the most value and beauty.

Yeah, in Ridges, particularly, and a lot of those higher-end neighborhoods, when you have a fully remodeled product, you’re getting, you know, $900 to $1,200 a square foot, if you were to go to take it to market.

The same thing for McDonald Highlands.

Some of these older neighborhoods with really mature landscaping, they like Tournament Hills and Eagle Hills, places like that.

You know, those are always in high demand, because they’re such beautiful communities.

And you hit on the head, like, we were doing one in McDonald Highlands, and the remodel ended up turning about $200 a foot.

Yeah.

But they bought the home at a good price, and then when you look at the comps and analyze the value that’s bring to it, I think they’re going to be all in about $700 a foot, and maybe $600 a foot, I think it was.

And you can see that those homes that are remodeled with great design are selling for $850 to $900 a foot.

Yeah.

You know.

Depending on the lot and the view.

Right.

If you are shopping in that market, you know, looking for a home with good bones, where you’re going to maximize the return on that investment.

But homes generally with low lids, low ceilings, are much more expensive to renovate.

If you want to lift them.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And sometimes it’s worth doing, but a lot of times it’s not.

Right.

And then homes with a lot of those level changes.

Those are all real expensive things to change.

Level changes are challenging.

Yeah.

Very challenging.

There’s a few in the Eagle Hills that seem to be in that category.

We’ve done a couple of them.

They look great, but at the end of the day, there comes a point where you have to have the level change.

They wanted to get rid of them, but you just can’t because of the way it’s set up.

So, it makes sense.

I’d say in the commercial space, when you get into like office space, like anything you can do to make that place inviting and brighter.

There’s so many old office spaces that are just dingy, not a lot of natural light, and not enjoyable.

Nobody wants to go to work in a closet.

The more natural light you can implement and getting those natural tones into there, it’s going to be a place that’s going to, for your employee base, that they’re going to enjoy working.

And I can’t really put a finger on like the improved like, just efficiency and productivity that you get out of your team, but there is a number to it for sure.

Right.

It’s a noticeable difference.

So, if you’re new to Vegas or you’re moving within Vegas, you’ve probably noticed there’s a lot of stuff on the market that doesn’t look great.

So, get Keenum and Co. involved.

We can help you consult and make sure you’re picking a product and picking a home that’s able to, where you’re able to really maximize the value.

And working with our design build process empowers you in the best way possible.

Yeah, we work with a lot of realtors who call us up and we give them a lot of assistance and help based off of questions on types of things like level changes or if we open up this wall, how much would it cost?

Things like that.

So, talk to your realtor and have them reach out to us and we can collaborate as a team and really empower you guys through the process of what costs a lot, what doesn’t cost a lot, and what makes the most sense for value.