Planning to sell? Many homeowners opting to do home improvement projects before listing their homes

Before putting their home on the market, many property owners opt to do a few projects to help their home’s resale value.

According to a recent porch.com survey, 52% of people believe housing prices will go up, including 55% of owners and 48% of renters. However, of the 28% of owners hoping to sell their property in the next five years, 67% said they find the process moderately to extremely stressful.

Before selling a property, 67% plan to do improvements to their homes, which 40% said makes them feeling anxious about the projects. However, these projects are not always inexpensive. The median emergency fund homeowners have saved is $3,000, but 32% have $1,000 or less saved for a home repair emergency. Only 30% have more than $5,000 saved for a home emergency.

Faced with a home emergency costing $10,000, 32% would use their savings, 26% would use credit, 17% would take out a personal loan and 10% would refinance a portion of their home.

Nearly seven in 10 homeowners said they plan to do a home renovation project in the next year, with 42% planning to hire a professional. They are expecting to spend close to $4,o00 on it. The report found that the average person has at least nine home improvement projects that they have been putting off.

“While many homeowners planned some kind of home renovation project this year, only 42 percent of those had plans to hire a contractor to help them. Hiring a professional may add cost up front, but having professional help can save time and money on a project,” said Amanda Woolley, Porch’s senior communications manager. “Whether to DIY really depends on someone’s skill set. Our research found that people who DIY usually end up spending more and taking more time to tackle a project. Projects that have a high material cost, like flooring for example, may be better to hire a pro because mistakes can be costly.”