September 4, 2024 • 26 mins
Can strategic renovations really boost your home's value by 20%? Join us as we chat with Jessica Morrow, the Chief of Staff at Revive, to uncover the game-changing strategies that homeowners can use to transform their financial futures.
She's here to reveal how Revive not only connects homeowners with pre-vetted contractors but also fronts renovation costs, all designed to increase your home’s market value dramatically. You'll learn how skipping pre-sale renovations could mean leaving thousands of dollars on the table, and why downsizing is becoming a major trend, especially in California.
In the second part of our episode, we share a Revive life-changing success story—how investing $100,000 in client's home during the pandemic skyrocketed its value and enabled her to retire comfortably. Jessica also offers a glimpse into the future with Revive's groundbreaking Vision AI tool, set to revolutionize the way you analyze your selling options. Plus, hear about unique cases where homeowners decide to stay post-renovation, showcasing the unparalleled flexibility Revive offers. If you’re curious about maximizing your home’s potential and want to hear success stories that could inspire your next move, this episode is for you!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dennis Day (00:00):
Welcome.
This is Getting your Edge howto Right Size your Home and Life
podcast.
My name is Dennis Day and I'mhere with my special guest,
Jessica Morrow of Revive, andwe're going to discuss how to
improve your bottom line whenyou want to sell your home.
I'm really excited about thisbecause Revive is a great
(00:22):
product.
I think it can really helppeople increase their home's
value when they sell.
So, Jessica Morrow, let's startoff telling us who you are,
what is Revive and how it canhelp people improve the sale
price of their home.
Jessica Morrow (00:41):
Thank you.
Thank you so much for having me, dennett.
As you mentioned, I'm JessicaMorrow.
Thank you so much for having me, dennis.
As you mentioned, I'm JessicaMorrow.
I'm the Chief of Staff atRevive.
We're a California-basedcompany and essentially we help
homeowners maximize the value oftheir home.
Our mission is really totransform the home selling
experience for homeowners andreal estate professionals by
(01:06):
leveraging innovative technology, financial solutions and a
network of fully supportedcontractors to renovate to
maximize sales price, andessentially that's what we do
help people renovate to maximizetheir home value.
Dennis Day (01:23):
Okay, how we know, is that.
Jessica Morrow (01:25):
Oh sorry, go ahead Well apologize, I
interrupted, go ahead.
It's going to say that today'sbuyers prefer turnkey upgraded
homes.
It's the HGTV generation, sowe're helping to bring that
product to market.
Dennis Day (01:40):
Okay.
Jessica Morrow (01:56):
So how are you different from a contractor who
does remodeling, that's local?
They just happen to bepre-vetted and trained by Revive
.
The difference is that Revivefully supports those contractors
.
We do a design tailored tobuyer's taste.
We bring that vetted contractor, we do all of the planning and
(02:27):
getting everything into thatcontractor's hands.
So front and back office forthem, so they can efficiently
and effectively do that job.
And then the cherry on top isthat we front the money, so we
pay for everything up front andget paid back at closing.
Dennis Day (02:37):
So if seller wants to use Revive, they will not
have to put down a deposit orpay any upfront costs.
It all comes out at closing.
Is that correct?
Jessica Morrow (02:48):
That's correct.
So as long as that homeownerhas enough equity to pay us back
, then yeah, there's no upfrontcost.
It's all collected at theclosing table.
Dennis Day (03:00):
And generally, how much equity must they have as a
percentage?
And generally, how much equitymust they have as a percentage?
Jessica Morrow (03:05):
So typically we're looking for them to have
what we would like to see as a20% equity buffer.
So we look at, do a simple mathis we look at the after
renovated values and calculatewhat we think the home will be
for after renovation.
And then we want to make surethat they have enough money to
(03:27):
pay off any debt that's on thehome, so pay off their mortgage.
We want to make sure they canpay their realtor and pay us
back for the renovation, andthen we want to be about a 20%
buffer there just in case of anymarket fluctuations.
Dennis Day (03:38):
What are the trends in downsizing?
Have you noticed anything?
Are there more people moving tosmaller homes, condos, vacation
properties?
What have you noticed anything?
Are there more people moving tosmaller homes, condos, vacation
properties?
What have you seen at revive?
Jessica Morrow (03:50):
well, we've definitely seen people moving to
smaller homes.
Where, as I mentioned, we're atcalifornia-based company, we
work in multiple states, but ourbackyard is cal, california,
and so something we've noticed alot is people downsizing and
moving out of California andinto more reasonably priced
(04:13):
areas.
Dennis Day (04:14):
And what about the impact of remodeling on this?
On the bottom line, howsignificant can the upgrades
lead to a better sales price forthe homeowner?
Jessica Morrow (04:27):
It can be very significant in many cases.
There's a stat that I wanted toshare that 6% of sellers leave
anywhere from 15% to 20% oftheir home equity on the table
if they don't do any pre-salerenovations.
This is a value add large,especially if it's done
correctly.
(04:47):
And something to touch on isthere's many ways to get a home
ready for market.
We see buckets, there's valuepreservation and then there's
value add, and each could beright for different clients, but
we can help people withrenovations such as fixing a
leaky roof or just simplydecluttering and staging a house
(05:10):
.
Those are things that would bevalue preservation versus the
value add.
Items that are going to beappealing to the wide range of
buyers, like peat flooring, newkitchens and bath landscaping,
are typically the items that aregoing to bring the best return
on investment.
Dennis Day (05:26):
So how do you figure out what the renovations will
be the best for individual homes?
Jessica Morrow (05:33):
That's a great question.
So the way that we do that isby analyzing.
We analyze the home as it isand then we do an analysis, just
like realtors do at the compsin the neighborhood, and we want
to try and figure out what isthe client's goal.
So if the client's goal is tohit the highest exit price
(05:53):
possible, we're going to want tolook at the homes in the area
that have sold for that highestprice and we're going to want to
see what did those people doand we're going to want to do
similar renovations, and so wedo an analysis to see what did
those people do.
We're going to want to dosimilar renovations and so we do
an analysis to see what do weneed to do to this home to meet
the client's goal.
And typically that's figuringout what other homes sold for it
(06:17):
the highest and what they didand then tailoring those
renovations.
That way.
Dennis Day (06:22):
Okay.
How is the customer involved inthe home seller involved in the
process of figuring out whichrenovations to do, and so forth?
Jessica Morrow (06:34):
The seller and the agent are have.
It's really completely up tothem as to what renovations they
want to do, as to whatrenovations they want to do,
budget they want to spend andwhat level of finish they would
like.
And then it goes to Revive, todo the actual design to fit into
(06:55):
each of those boxes.
But the homeowner we gettogether with the homeowner and
their agent to really understandour goals and help be a guide,
but at the end of the day thehomeowner's in control of what
gets done and how much it costs.
Dennis Day (07:11):
Do they have control over things like the paint
color and which cabinets mightgo in, so forth?
Jessica Morrow (07:20):
So they don't.
We have a product calledRenovate to Stay for people who
aren't selling their homes andthey get to meet with the
designers and go through thewhole process.
But our Renovate to Sellprogram is really designed for
efficiency, for speed and it'sreally tailored to buyers'
tastes.
And oftentimes when a homeseller gets too involved in that
(07:42):
process, they start makingdecisions based on their own
tastes and not necessarily basedon what the buyers are looking
for.
So no, the paint colors.
We try and make that as neutral.
We've done it thousands oftimes and really know what the
buyers are looking for.
Dennis Day (08:02):
So you're looking at what buyers are looking for and
you're looking at trends inhomes that have been selling in
the area.
So what are some of the commonmistakes that homeowners do when
they renovate by themselves?
Jessica Morrow (08:18):
So we touched on that a little bit in the last
question.
So the first thing is designingto their own tastes versus what
the sort of HGTV nextmillennial generation are
looking for.
So that could be one.
And then another thing iseither spending too little or
spending too much.
So we see that when peoplerenovate or make their own
(08:39):
decisions, sometimes they feellike let's save money and just
invest a little bit, butoftentimes then they miss the
return because they're spendingtoo little.
Other times people over-investand don't get a return on the
investment, and so there'sdefinitely a sweet spot and that
it helps to have anotherprofessional involved to help
(09:02):
make those decisions, anotherprofessional involved to help
make those decisions.
Some others are going with thewrong contractor or just trying
to find the cheapest price overquality.
Sometimes people just get intheir own way, and something
that we require and we can alsohelp people with is to be out of
the house during renovations.
Living through a renovation cansometimes be really detrimental
(09:25):
.
Dennis Day (09:27):
It's awful awful, especially kitchen renovation.
It's just horrible.
Jessica Morrow (09:30):
Anyways, go ahead so those would be some of
the but I would say number oneis spending too little or too
much, or really designing toyour own taste versus really
thinking about what a buyerwould be looking for.
Dennis Day (09:44):
So one of the things that if you were to renovate on
your own, what things would youdon't return value.
We talk about our return oninvestment and some things do
return an investment and somedon't.
What are some things that do,and then we'll go to what things
that don't.
Jessica Morrow (10:05):
And this can change based on the market but
the area.
But I would say that thingsthat bring the most return on
investment.
Number one is simplydepersonalization.
There's a stat, I think, that ahouse that's depersonalized
will sell for about 2% to 3%more than one that's
(10:26):
personalized.
Dennis Day (10:27):
Can you say what depersonalize me?
Jessica Morro (10:29):
Depersonalization would simply be decluttering,
taking photos down, takingtchotchkes and knickknacks down,
just making it into a more of aneutral, less lived in space.
So that would be number one.
And staging, I think, is thesecond which brings, on average,
I think, a three to 4% return.
(10:50):
So those are be number one andstaging, I think, is the second
which brings, on average, Ithink, a 3% to 4% return.
So those are two big things.
But when it comes to actualrenovations, we see neutral
paint being probably the numberone return on investment.
New flooring is a big one.
After that you probably getinto refreshed or renovated
kitchens and bathrooms.
That you probably get intorefreshed or renovated kitchens
(11:13):
and bathrooms.
And then the two other thingsthat we find that bring a return
are light landscaping so curbappeal type of items and
landscaping and just those smallaccessories like new door
handles, new door hinges, newbaseboards.
There's little features thatactually are inexpensive to do
and bring a good return.
Dennis Day (11:34):
So you were talking about depersonalizing and you
want kind of a generic home.
Why is that?
Why doesn't the seller want tobroadcast their life in the home
?
Jessica Morrow (11:45):
A buyer.
When they walk into a home,they want to be able to envision
what it would be like for themto live there, and they want to
be able to yeah, just reallyenvision their life in that home
.
And I think that can getclouded if you're looking at the
20 photos of the grandchildrenon the wall.
(12:06):
That is hard to then envisionthat it's your home, and so it's
really about allowing thatexperience for the buyer to make
it feel like they couldpersonalize it for themselves
and their family.
Dennis Day (12:19):
Okay, what are the big things that don't return
your investment?
Jessica Morrow (12:27):
This can differ from place to place, but things
like digging a new pool, thingslike adding solar in some cases,
so some things that don't addas much ROI.
Yes, and it's the personalizedthings that you may feel like
gosh, we've always wanted to addthat waterfall in the backyard
(12:47):
or these things that are reallypersonal to people that just
maybe aren't as important toothers, but it's the types of
things that are a little tooniche.
Dennis Day (12:57):
I heard that a brand new deck, which is quite
expensive, is not really a goodreturn on investment.
Jessica Morrow (13:04):
Yeah, that's an interesting one.
Now, if your deck is not tocode or it's falling apart,
things like that, so fixing it.
But yeah, sometimes buildingnew things building a gazebo, as
I mentioned, digging a pool,putting in an exotic tree these
are things that maybe if youlived there and you love that
sort of thing, might be nice,but not that's going to actually
(13:25):
get a return on your dollar,but not that's going to actually
get a return on your dollar.
Those things don't bring theROI and we leave that more up to
the buyers of the property todo something like.
Dennis Day (13:41):
So let's talk about some of the success stories
you've had in downsizing, whereRevive has come in, done the
work and then the owner hasreally succeeded in getting a
great price for their home.
Jessica Morrow (13:54):
As I was thinking about this question, a
particular client came to mindand this was a couple of years
ago.
Kimberly was a homeowner whoowned a home here in California
and she had owned it for about25, 30 years and had raised kids
in the home.
It had been her home for a longtime and she ran into some
(14:18):
financial difficulty.
It was around when COVID wasreally rampant and she had lost
her job and she had gottenreally, really behind.
She was behind on her mortgageand she was having a hard time
sort of being in Californiahamster wheel and her house was
also in bad shape and her housewas probably worth about
$350,000 in its as-is condition.
(14:41):
It was missing flooring inplaces.
It was not in great shape andso we came in and we invested
about $100,000 in the house andthat was the new floor and
kitchen and bathroom upgradesand it raised the price of that
house, or the value of thathouse, significantly.
I think she sold it for about$650,000 or $700,000.
(15:05):
So she made anywhere from$200,000 to $300,000 more than
she would have selling it as is.
She moved to Denver, she wantedto move to Colorado, the
outskirts.
She moved into a prefab home,so she really got a home that
was a lot less expensive.
She was also able to invest insmall investment property with
(15:26):
those funds, and what was reallyamazing is she went from being
in a really dire situation whereretirement was not even on the
table, to being able to live outthe rest of her life really
well, and so she was able towhat we would say retire with
dignity.
And there's a really impactstory because I got to work
(15:48):
actually really closely with herand see how significant that
was for her life, and so thatwas one that really sticks with
me for a downsizing story.
Dennis Day (15:59):
You changed her life .
Does Revive have any statsabout, on average, how much
after your renovation will gainin sale price versus selling as
is?
Jessica Morrow (16:12):
Yeah, there is.
So, as I mentioned, a lot ofpeople leave at 15 to 20% of the
value on the table.
They don't renovate.
We are seeing our averages mostrecently are about $146,000
more than selling as is.
That's just an average number$146,000?
(16:35):
.
Yes.
Dennis Day (16:36):
That's fantastic.
Now you offer all theseservices.
How does Revive survive as abusiness?
How are you compensated?
Jessica Morrow (16:45):
That's a great question.
So Revive actually makes itsmoney from the contractors, and
so it's really nice that thehomeowners not only don't have
to pay till closing, but there'sno fees or interest or anything
on the money.
The way that Revive makes itsmoney is by getting paid from
the contractors for all thesupport we provide to them.
(17:06):
So I mentioned the design.
Each project gets an owner'srepresentative assigned.
We help them with the scope andthe permitting, and so we're
really the full front and backoffice for these contractors and
we get paid for the services weprovide them and are able to
offer a really competitive priceto the homeowner, as if they
(17:28):
were hiring a regular contractor, but without any payment till
close.
Dennis Day (17:33):
And that really makes a big difference when
liking the example you had wheresomebody who really needs to
move and doesn't have the moneyto keep it, or those homeowners
who have a hard time or can'tafford to maintain their home.
So what do you think?
What do you see in the futurefor renovation and downsizing in
(17:55):
, say, the next 10 years or so?
Jessica Morrow (18:01):
well as far as renovation and downsizing over
the next 10 years, I think it'sgoing to be similar.
I think that people willcontinue to need to downsize.
People will, so that will be apattern that I'm sure will
continue people moving thatdownsizing or moving out of
state.
The future for us in thisindustry is we want to continue
(18:28):
to offer options, clients, tohomeowners and agents so that
they can achieve their goals,and something that we're excited
that we're working on is asoftware that we call Vision AI
today, and essentially we wantevery single homeowner, at the
click of a button, to know allof their options when selling a
(18:52):
home.
We want them to know everythingabout the neighborhood,
everything about their own home,the value of their home, as it
is what they could do to thathome to raise the value, and
created a product and we'recontinuing to make it better and
this is a product that usescomputer vision and essentially,
(19:12):
with a click of a button, youcould put your address and
upload photos of your home andin seconds it does an analysis
and gives you all of yourselling options, and so that's
something that we're reallyexcited about, and we want to be
in the hands of every homeowner, whether they're upsizing or
downsizing, we want them to knowall of their options and to
(19:33):
help them reach their goals.
Dennis Day (19:35):
I don't know if it's happened, but what if you do
this renovation and thehomeowner says, oh, I love it, I
want to stay.
Jessica Morrow (19:43):
It's happened one time.
One time and it's yes, it'shappened one time.
A lot of people love theirrenovations, but most people
have moved on to their nextplace.
But it did happen one timewhere someone was falling back
in love with the house we don'twant to move, and so that
homeowner simply paid us backfor the renovation and kept
(20:03):
their home.
Dennis Day (20:04):
Great.
Jessica Morrow (20:05):
And we do have a renovate to stay product where
anyone, even if they're notselling their home, could
utilize our services and ourcontractors and our streamlined
process to renovate a home thatthey'd like to stay in.
They just have to pay for it ininstallments, like you would a
regular contractor.
Dennis Day (20:23):
It sounds like it's very simple and easy for the
homeowner versus trying to finda contractor or being their own
subcontractor.
Jessica Morrow (20:35):
Yes, definitely.
There's a lot of fear andanxiety that comes with finding,
hiring and managing your owncontractor, and you could
probably ask anyone who's everdone it.
Almost everyone has a horrorstory either that they've gone
through themselves or they knowsomeone who's had a hard time.
So we're trying to alleviatethat fear and that stress and
(20:56):
those constraints to make iteasier for the everyday
homeowner to do that easier forthe everyday homeowner to do
that.
Dennis Day (21:07):
And at the time of design and so forth, the
homeowner says, no, this isgoing to cost me too much, I
don't want to do this, I'm goingto go my own.
Is that something that Revivecan handle?
Jessica Morrow (21:16):
Absolutely.
We are there to offer optionsand our guidance and we always
bring it back to our ROI and thehomeowner's goals.
But if that is something thatthey choose to do on their own,
then that's completely fine.
As I mentioned, we also haveservices where we can provide
(21:36):
just design services or we couldoffer more and tailor it to
that person.
But it's totally fine to cometo us, get your options and
understand, and if you don't endup going with Revive, that's
okay too.
Dennis Day (21:52):
You mentioned the Revive to stay.
Can you talk about that alittle bit?
Jessica Morrow (21:58):
Sure, as I mentioned, whether you're
selling or keeping your home,renovations can be scary.
They can induce a lot of fearand anxiety.
So I think value for Revive'sRenovate to Sell is that we
front the money, but that's justa small portion of it.
The ability to tap into avetted contractor network to
(22:21):
have a designer, to have astreamlined process, can be
really beneficial for people whoare just renovating to stay.
Anyway, renovate to stay yeah,it's a way to tap into all of
the services and efficienciesthat Revive has created
(22:45):
efficiencies that Revive hascreated and for homeowners who'd
like to do that, they pay asmall design deposit and they
make payments as the projectprogresses, but they get
everything that they would havegotten with a renovate to sell.
The design support the owner'srep from the Revive team who
helps to keep the project ontrack and on budget.
So it's a great way for peopleto tap into a streamlined
(23:07):
renovation process.
Dennis Day (23:10):
And Revive.
Has the Revive to sell, Reviveto stay?
Is there any other Reviveprojects going on?
Jessica Morrow (23:18):
Yes, we have one other and it's called Sell 360.
So there are some homeowners whohave a home that is in need of
renovations.
They want to sell, but theysimply don't have the time to go
through the process.
That does take some time.
There's time to prep for therenovation, then there's the
(23:39):
actual time to renovate, andthen there's the time to sell
the house, and so you could betalking about three extra months
or so, and a lot of peopleespecially if they're in some
kind of financial distress orwhatever it may be they don't
have time for that, and sooftentimes those sellers are
left to sell on the open marketto what we call like a vulture
(24:02):
investor and leave a lot ofmoney on the table.
So we came up with a productcalled Sell360, where we
purchase the home from thehomeowner, we renovate the home
and then we pay them all of theprofits on the back end, so they
get a portion of their profitsup front.
We take on the renovation andthen we take on the set, we sell
(24:25):
the house, and then it's reallygreat because the homeowner
then gets all of the additionalprofits, less a small revive fee
of 6%.
It's usually people hearingsome kind of need to sell
quickly but don't want to leavethe money on the table or sell
to a vulture investor, so it's areally great way to tap into
the renovation without having towait.
Dennis Day (24:48):
Sounds fantastic.
I really enjoyed working withRevive when I worked with John
and I think you're a greatcompany, so I highly recommend
it to any of our listeners orviewers because they do a bang
up job and they have threedifferent programs the seller
360, the renovation to sell andrenovation to stay.
Jessica Morrow (25:09):
I just really appreciate you taking the time
to sit down and talk to us andlearn about our company and, at
the end of the day, we want tohelp homeowners maximize the
value of their home and keep allof their hard earnedearned
equity in their pocket, and so Iappreciate you letting me speak
to your viewers and listenersabout it.
Dennis Day (25:32):
If someone wanted to get more information about
Revive, where would they go?
Jessica Morrow (25:36):
They would go to wwwrevivedate, so you can find
it at reviverealonline.
Dennis Day (25:43):
And what was that percentage that people are
leaving on the table withoutusing a remodel renovation
project like Revive?
Jessica Morrow (25:51):
Typically, yeah, 15 to 20% of equity that's
locked away.
That just simply needsunlocking.
Dennis Day (26:01):
Wow, thank you so much.
I really appreciate your time,jessica, and that's it for
Getting your Edge how to WriteSigns.
Use your Home and Life podcast.
I hope you've enjoyed thisepisode.
We are edgegroupteamcom.
Give us a call.
The phone number is at thewebsite Revive Real Estate, is
that correct?
Yeah, thanks so much, jessica,appreciate it.
(26:23):
Bye-
Welcome.
This is Getting your Edge howto Right Size your Home and Life
podcast.
My name is Dennis Day and I'mhere with my special guest,
Jessica Morrow of Revive, andwe're going to discuss how to
improve your bottom line whenyou want to sell your home.
I'm really excited about thisbecause Revive is a great
(00:22):
product.
I think it can really helppeople increase their home's
value when they sell.
So, Jessica Morrow, let's startoff telling us who you are,
what is Revive and how it canhelp people improve the sale
price of their home.
Jessica Morrow (00:41):
Thank you.
Thank you so much for having me, dennett.
As you mentioned, I'm JessicaMorrow.
Thank you so much for having me, dennis.
As you mentioned, I'm JessicaMorrow.
I'm the Chief of Staff atRevive.
We're a California-basedcompany and essentially we help
homeowners maximize the value oftheir home.
Our mission is really totransform the home selling
experience for homeowners andreal estate professionals by
(01:06):
leveraging innovative technology, financial solutions and a
network of fully supportedcontractors to renovate to
maximize sales price, andessentially that's what we do
help people renovate to maximizetheir home value.
Dennis Day (01:23):
Okay, how we know, is that.
Jessica Morrow (01:25):
Oh sorry, go ahead Well apologize, I
interrupted, go ahead.
It's going to say that today'sbuyers prefer turnkey upgraded
homes.
It's the HGTV generation, sowe're helping to bring that
product to market.
Dennis Day (01:40):
Okay.
Jessica Morrow (01:56):
So how are you different from a contractor who
does remodeling, that's local?
They just happen to bepre-vetted and trained by Revive
.
The difference is that Revivefully supports those contractors
.
We do a design tailored tobuyer's taste.
We bring that vetted contractor, we do all of the planning and
(02:27):
getting everything into thatcontractor's hands.
So front and back office forthem, so they can efficiently
and effectively do that job.
And then the cherry on top isthat we front the money, so we
pay for everything up front andget paid back at closing.
Dennis Day (02:37):
So if seller wants to use Revive, they will not
have to put down a deposit orpay any upfront costs.
It all comes out at closing.
Is that correct?
Jessica Morrow (02:48):
That's correct.
So as long as that homeownerhas enough equity to pay us back
, then yeah, there's no upfrontcost.
It's all collected at theclosing table.
Dennis Day (03:00):
And generally, how much equity must they have as a
percentage?
And generally, how much equitymust they have as a percentage?
Jessica Morrow (03:05):
So typically we're looking for them to have
what we would like to see as a20% equity buffer.
So we look at, do a simple mathis we look at the after
renovated values and calculatewhat we think the home will be
for after renovation.
And then we want to make surethat they have enough money to
(03:27):
pay off any debt that's on thehome, so pay off their mortgage.
We want to make sure they canpay their realtor and pay us
back for the renovation, andthen we want to be about a 20%
buffer there just in case of anymarket fluctuations.
Dennis Day (03:38):
What are the trends in downsizing?
Have you noticed anything?
Are there more people moving tosmaller homes, condos, vacation
properties?
What have you noticed anything?
Are there more people moving tosmaller homes, condos, vacation
properties?
What have you seen at revive?
Jessica Morrow (03:50):
well, we've definitely seen people moving to
smaller homes.
Where, as I mentioned, we're atcalifornia-based company, we
work in multiple states, but ourbackyard is cal, california,
and so something we've noticed alot is people downsizing and
moving out of California andinto more reasonably priced
(04:13):
areas.
Dennis Day (04:14):
And what about the impact of remodeling on this?
On the bottom line, howsignificant can the upgrades
lead to a better sales price forthe homeowner?
Jessica Morrow (04:27):
It can be very significant in many cases.
There's a stat that I wanted toshare that 6% of sellers leave
anywhere from 15% to 20% oftheir home equity on the table
if they don't do any pre-salerenovations.
This is a value add large,especially if it's done
correctly.
(04:47):
And something to touch on isthere's many ways to get a home
ready for market.
We see buckets, there's valuepreservation and then there's
value add, and each could beright for different clients, but
we can help people withrenovations such as fixing a
leaky roof or just simplydecluttering and staging a house
(05:10):
.
Those are things that would bevalue preservation versus the
value add.
Items that are going to beappealing to the wide range of
buyers, like peat flooring, newkitchens and bath landscaping,
are typically the items that aregoing to bring the best return
on investment.
Dennis Day (05:26):
So how do you figure out what the renovations will
be the best for individual homes?
Jessica Morrow (05:33):
That's a great question.
So the way that we do that isby analyzing.
We analyze the home as it isand then we do an analysis, just
like realtors do at the compsin the neighborhood, and we want
to try and figure out what isthe client's goal.
So if the client's goal is tohit the highest exit price
(05:53):
possible, we're going to want tolook at the homes in the area
that have sold for that highestprice and we're going to want to
see what did those people doand we're going to want to do
similar renovations, and so wedo an analysis to see what did
those people do.
We're going to want to dosimilar renovations and so we do
an analysis to see what do weneed to do to this home to meet
the client's goal.
And typically that's figuringout what other homes sold for it
(06:17):
the highest and what they didand then tailoring those
renovations.
That way.
Dennis Day (06:22):
Okay.
How is the customer involved inthe home seller involved in the
process of figuring out whichrenovations to do, and so forth?
Jessica Morrow (06:34):
The seller and the agent are have.
It's really completely up tothem as to what renovations they
want to do, as to whatrenovations they want to do,
budget they want to spend andwhat level of finish they would
like.
And then it goes to Revive, todo the actual design to fit into
(06:55):
each of those boxes.
But the homeowner we gettogether with the homeowner and
their agent to really understandour goals and help be a guide,
but at the end of the day thehomeowner's in control of what
gets done and how much it costs.
Dennis Day (07:11):
Do they have control over things like the paint
color and which cabinets mightgo in, so forth?
Jessica Morrow (07:20):
So they don't.
We have a product calledRenovate to Stay for people who
aren't selling their homes andthey get to meet with the
designers and go through thewhole process.
But our Renovate to Sellprogram is really designed for
efficiency, for speed and it'sreally tailored to buyers'
tastes.
And oftentimes when a homeseller gets too involved in that
(07:42):
process, they start makingdecisions based on their own
tastes and not necessarily basedon what the buyers are looking
for.
So no, the paint colors.
We try and make that as neutral.
We've done it thousands oftimes and really know what the
buyers are looking for.
Dennis Day (08:02):
So you're looking at what buyers are looking for and
you're looking at trends inhomes that have been selling in
the area.
So what are some of the commonmistakes that homeowners do when
they renovate by themselves?
Jessica Morrow (08:18):
So we touched on that a little bit in the last
question.
So the first thing is designingto their own tastes versus what
the sort of HGTV nextmillennial generation are
looking for.
So that could be one.
And then another thing iseither spending too little or
spending too much.
So we see that when peoplerenovate or make their own
(08:39):
decisions, sometimes they feellike let's save money and just
invest a little bit, butoftentimes then they miss the
return because they're spendingtoo little.
Other times people over-investand don't get a return on the
investment, and so there'sdefinitely a sweet spot and that
it helps to have anotherprofessional involved to help
(09:02):
make those decisions, anotherprofessional involved to help
make those decisions.
Some others are going with thewrong contractor or just trying
to find the cheapest price overquality.
Sometimes people just get intheir own way, and something
that we require and we can alsohelp people with is to be out of
the house during renovations.
Living through a renovation cansometimes be really detrimental
(09:25):
.
Dennis Day (09:27):
It's awful awful, especially kitchen renovation.
It's just horrible.
Jessica Morrow (09:30):
Anyways, go ahead so those would be some of
the but I would say number oneis spending too little or too
much, or really designing toyour own taste versus really
thinking about what a buyerwould be looking for.
Dennis Day (09:44):
So one of the things that if you were to renovate on
your own, what things would youdon't return value.
We talk about our return oninvestment and some things do
return an investment and somedon't.
What are some things that do,and then we'll go to what things
that don't.
Jessica Morrow (10:05):
And this can change based on the market but
the area.
But I would say that thingsthat bring the most return on
investment.
Number one is simplydepersonalization.
There's a stat, I think, that ahouse that's depersonalized
will sell for about 2% to 3%more than one that's
(10:26):
personalized.
Dennis Day (10:27):
Can you say what depersonalize me?
Jessica Morro (10:29):
Depersonalization would simply be decluttering,
taking photos down, takingtchotchkes and knickknacks down,
just making it into a more of aneutral, less lived in space.
So that would be number one.
And staging, I think, is thesecond which brings, on average,
I think, a three to 4% return.
(10:50):
So those are be number one andstaging, I think, is the second
which brings, on average, Ithink, a 3% to 4% return.
So those are two big things.
But when it comes to actualrenovations, we see neutral
paint being probably the numberone return on investment.
New flooring is a big one.
After that you probably getinto refreshed or renovated
kitchens and bathrooms.
That you probably get intorefreshed or renovated kitchens
(11:13):
and bathrooms.
And then the two other thingsthat we find that bring a return
are light landscaping so curbappeal type of items and
landscaping and just those smallaccessories like new door
handles, new door hinges, newbaseboards.
There's little features thatactually are inexpensive to do
and bring a good return.
Dennis Day (11:34):
So you were talking about depersonalizing and you
want kind of a generic home.
Why is that?
Why doesn't the seller want tobroadcast their life in the home
?
Jessica Morrow (11:45):
A buyer.
When they walk into a home,they want to be able to envision
what it would be like for themto live there, and they want to
be able to yeah, just reallyenvision their life in that home
.
And I think that can getclouded if you're looking at the
20 photos of the grandchildrenon the wall.
(12:06):
That is hard to then envisionthat it's your home, and so it's
really about allowing thatexperience for the buyer to make
it feel like they couldpersonalize it for themselves
and their family.
Dennis Day (12:19):
Okay, what are the big things that don't return
your investment?
Jessica Morrow (12:27):
This can differ from place to place, but things
like digging a new pool, thingslike adding solar in some cases,
so some things that don't addas much ROI.
Yes, and it's the personalizedthings that you may feel like
gosh, we've always wanted to addthat waterfall in the backyard
(12:47):
or these things that are reallypersonal to people that just
maybe aren't as important toothers, but it's the types of
things that are a little tooniche.
Dennis Day (12:57):
I heard that a brand new deck, which is quite
expensive, is not really a goodreturn on investment.
Jessica Morrow (13:04):
Yeah, that's an interesting one.
Now, if your deck is not tocode or it's falling apart,
things like that, so fixing it.
But yeah, sometimes buildingnew things building a gazebo, as
I mentioned, digging a pool,putting in an exotic tree these
are things that maybe if youlived there and you love that
sort of thing, might be nice,but not that's going to actually
(13:25):
get a return on your dollar,but not that's going to actually
get a return on your dollar.
Those things don't bring theROI and we leave that more up to
the buyers of the property todo something like.
Dennis Day (13:41):
So let's talk about some of the success stories
you've had in downsizing, whereRevive has come in, done the
work and then the owner hasreally succeeded in getting a
great price for their home.
Jessica Morrow (13:54):
As I was thinking about this question, a
particular client came to mindand this was a couple of years
ago.
Kimberly was a homeowner whoowned a home here in California
and she had owned it for about25, 30 years and had raised kids
in the home.
It had been her home for a longtime and she ran into some
(14:18):
financial difficulty.
It was around when COVID wasreally rampant and she had lost
her job and she had gottenreally, really behind.
She was behind on her mortgageand she was having a hard time
sort of being in Californiahamster wheel and her house was
also in bad shape and her housewas probably worth about
$350,000 in its as-is condition.
(14:41):
It was missing flooring inplaces.
It was not in great shape andso we came in and we invested
about $100,000 in the house andthat was the new floor and
kitchen and bathroom upgradesand it raised the price of that
house, or the value of thathouse, significantly.
I think she sold it for about$650,000 or $700,000.
(15:05):
So she made anywhere from$200,000 to $300,000 more than
she would have selling it as is.
She moved to Denver, she wantedto move to Colorado, the
outskirts.
She moved into a prefab home,so she really got a home that
was a lot less expensive.
She was also able to invest insmall investment property with
(15:26):
those funds, and what was reallyamazing is she went from being
in a really dire situation whereretirement was not even on the
table, to being able to live outthe rest of her life really
well, and so she was able towhat we would say retire with
dignity.
And there's a really impactstory because I got to work
(15:48):
actually really closely with herand see how significant that
was for her life, and so thatwas one that really sticks with
me for a downsizing story.
Dennis Day (15:59):
You changed her life .
Does Revive have any statsabout, on average, how much
after your renovation will gainin sale price versus selling as
is?
Jessica Morrow (16:12):
Yeah, there is.
So, as I mentioned, a lot ofpeople leave at 15 to 20% of the
value on the table.
They don't renovate.
We are seeing our averages mostrecently are about $146,000
more than selling as is.
That's just an average number$146,000?
(16:35):
.
Yes.
Dennis Day (16:36):
That's fantastic.
Now you offer all theseservices.
How does Revive survive as abusiness?
How are you compensated?
Jessica Morrow (16:45):
That's a great question.
So Revive actually makes itsmoney from the contractors, and
so it's really nice that thehomeowners not only don't have
to pay till closing, but there'sno fees or interest or anything
on the money.
The way that Revive makes itsmoney is by getting paid from
the contractors for all thesupport we provide to them.
(17:06):
So I mentioned the design.
Each project gets an owner'srepresentative assigned.
We help them with the scope andthe permitting, and so we're
really the full front and backoffice for these contractors and
we get paid for the services weprovide them and are able to
offer a really competitive priceto the homeowner, as if they
(17:28):
were hiring a regular contractor, but without any payment till
close.
Dennis Day (17:33):
And that really makes a big difference when
liking the example you had wheresomebody who really needs to
move and doesn't have the moneyto keep it, or those homeowners
who have a hard time or can'tafford to maintain their home.
So what do you think?
What do you see in the futurefor renovation and downsizing in
(17:55):
, say, the next 10 years or so?
Jessica Morrow (18:01):
well as far as renovation and downsizing over
the next 10 years, I think it'sgoing to be similar.
I think that people willcontinue to need to downsize.
People will, so that will be apattern that I'm sure will
continue people moving thatdownsizing or moving out of
state.
The future for us in thisindustry is we want to continue
(18:28):
to offer options, clients, tohomeowners and agents so that
they can achieve their goals,and something that we're excited
that we're working on is asoftware that we call Vision AI
today, and essentially we wantevery single homeowner, at the
click of a button, to know allof their options when selling a
(18:52):
home.
We want them to know everythingabout the neighborhood,
everything about their own home,the value of their home, as it
is what they could do to thathome to raise the value, and
created a product and we'recontinuing to make it better and
this is a product that usescomputer vision and essentially,
(19:12):
with a click of a button, youcould put your address and
upload photos of your home andin seconds it does an analysis
and gives you all of yourselling options, and so that's
something that we're reallyexcited about, and we want to be
in the hands of every homeowner, whether they're upsizing or
downsizing, we want them to knowall of their options and to
(19:33):
help them reach their goals.
Dennis Day (19:35):
I don't know if it's happened, but what if you do
this renovation and thehomeowner says, oh, I love it, I
want to stay.
Jessica Morrow (19:43):
It's happened one time.
One time and it's yes, it'shappened one time.
A lot of people love theirrenovations, but most people
have moved on to their nextplace.
But it did happen one timewhere someone was falling back
in love with the house we don'twant to move, and so that
homeowner simply paid us backfor the renovation and kept
(20:03):
their home.
Dennis Day (20:04):
Great.
Jessica Morrow (20:05):
And we do have a renovate to stay product where
anyone, even if they're notselling their home, could
utilize our services and ourcontractors and our streamlined
process to renovate a home thatthey'd like to stay in.
They just have to pay for it ininstallments, like you would a
regular contractor.
Dennis Day (20:23):
It sounds like it's very simple and easy for the
homeowner versus trying to finda contractor or being their own
subcontractor.
Jessica Morrow (20:35):
Yes, definitely.
There's a lot of fear andanxiety that comes with finding,
hiring and managing your owncontractor, and you could
probably ask anyone who's everdone it.
Almost everyone has a horrorstory either that they've gone
through themselves or they knowsomeone who's had a hard time.
So we're trying to alleviatethat fear and that stress and
(20:56):
those constraints to make iteasier for the everyday
homeowner to do that easier forthe everyday homeowner to do
that.
Dennis Day (21:07):
And at the time of design and so forth, the
homeowner says, no, this isgoing to cost me too much, I
don't want to do this, I'm goingto go my own.
Is that something that Revivecan handle?
Jessica Morrow (21:16):
Absolutely.
We are there to offer optionsand our guidance and we always
bring it back to our ROI and thehomeowner's goals.
But if that is something thatthey choose to do on their own,
then that's completely fine.
As I mentioned, we also haveservices where we can provide
(21:36):
just design services or we couldoffer more and tailor it to
that person.
But it's totally fine to cometo us, get your options and
understand, and if you don't endup going with Revive, that's
okay too.
Dennis Day (21:52):
You mentioned the Revive to stay.
Can you talk about that alittle bit?
Jessica Morrow (21:58):
Sure, as I mentioned, whether you're
selling or keeping your home,renovations can be scary.
They can induce a lot of fearand anxiety.
So I think value for Revive'sRenovate to Sell is that we
front the money, but that's justa small portion of it.
The ability to tap into avetted contractor network to
(22:21):
have a designer, to have astreamlined process, can be
really beneficial for people whoare just renovating to stay.
Anyway, renovate to stay yeah,it's a way to tap into all of
the services and efficienciesthat Revive has created
(22:45):
efficiencies that Revive hascreated and for homeowners who'd
like to do that, they pay asmall design deposit and they
make payments as the projectprogresses, but they get
everything that they would havegotten with a renovate to sell.
The design support the owner'srep from the Revive team who
helps to keep the project ontrack and on budget.
So it's a great way for peopleto tap into a streamlined
(23:07):
renovation process.
Dennis Day (23:10):
And Revive.
Has the Revive to sell, Reviveto stay?
Is there any other Reviveprojects going on?
Jessica Morrow (23:18):
Yes, we have one other and it's called Sell 360.
So there are some homeowners whohave a home that is in need of
renovations.
They want to sell, but theysimply don't have the time to go
through the process.
That does take some time.
There's time to prep for therenovation, then there's the
(23:39):
actual time to renovate, andthen there's the time to sell
the house, and so you could betalking about three extra months
or so, and a lot of peopleespecially if they're in some
kind of financial distress orwhatever it may be they don't
have time for that, and sooftentimes those sellers are
left to sell on the open marketto what we call like a vulture
(24:02):
investor and leave a lot ofmoney on the table.
So we came up with a productcalled Sell360, where we
purchase the home from thehomeowner, we renovate the home
and then we pay them all of theprofits on the back end, so they
get a portion of their profitsup front.
We take on the renovation andthen we take on the set, we sell
(24:25):
the house, and then it's reallygreat because the homeowner
then gets all of the additionalprofits, less a small revive fee
of 6%.
It's usually people hearingsome kind of need to sell
quickly but don't want to leavethe money on the table or sell
to a vulture investor, so it's areally great way to tap into
the renovation without having towait.
Dennis Day (24:48):
Sounds fantastic.
I really enjoyed working withRevive when I worked with John
and I think you're a greatcompany, so I highly recommend
it to any of our listeners orviewers because they do a bang
up job and they have threedifferent programs the seller
360, the renovation to sell andrenovation to stay.
Jessica Morrow (25:09):
I just really appreciate you taking the time
to sit down and talk to us andlearn about our company and, at
the end of the day, we want tohelp homeowners maximize the
value of their home and keep allof their hard earnedearned
equity in their pocket, and so Iappreciate you letting me speak
to your viewers and listenersabout it.
Dennis Day (25:32):
If someone wanted to get more information about
Revive, where would they go?
Jessica Morrow (25:36):
They would go to wwwrevivedate, so you can find
it at reviverealonline.
Dennis Day (25:43):
And what was that percentage that people are
leaving on the table withoutusing a remodel renovation
project like Revive?
Jessica Morrow (25:51):
Typically, yeah, 15 to 20% of equity that's
locked away.
That just simply needsunlocking.
Dennis Day (26:01):
Wow, thank you so much.
I really appreciate your time,jessica, and that's it for
Getting your Edge how to WriteSigns.
Use your Home and Life podcast.
I hope you've enjoyed thisepisode.
We are edgegroupteamcom.
Give us a call.
The phone number is at thewebsite Revive Real Estate, is
that correct?
Yeah, thanks so much, jessica,appreciate it.
(26:23):
Bye-
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