Kitchen Cabinet Remodeling: With Home Prices Projected To Drop in LA Refacing Is the Smarter Move

by Gabriel Traverso
Face Your Kitchen Columnist

Recently, the National Association of Realtors announced its forecast for home prices this year. While a month ago the organization had predicted a 1.2% rise in prices, now they are projecting a price drop. As you contemplate your kitchen remodeling project and turn your eye to new kitchen cabinets ask yourself: what do home values look like in your Los Angeles neighborhood?

Kitchen Cabinet Prices: Worth the Cost?

Facing what The Wall Street Journal is reporting as the first nationwide price drop since the Great Depression, can you really afford to spend money this year on new kitchen cabinets? Many Los Angeles homeowners consider new kitchen cabinets the first step to a successful kitchen remodeling project, but kitchen cabinet prices can easily take your remodeling project to the point where you don't recoup as much of the investment as you'd like. Fiserv Lending is also predicting home prices to drop this year in some of the nation's biggest markets. In Los Angeles Fiserv predicts that some home prices will drop up to 5% between now and April of 2008. Is sinking money into expensive new kitchen cabinets really going to be the right move for you this year?

Kitchen Cabinet Refacing: The Remodeling Alternative

For Los Angeles homeowners interested in making a smarter investment in their kitchen the answer lies in putting a new face on your kitchen, rather than gutting it. The alternative to new kitchen cabinets is kitchen cabinet refacing, a much more cost-effective remodeling solution. Installing new kitchen cabinets involves tearing out your existing cabinets. Not only do new kitchen cabinet prices vastly outweigh the cost of cabinet refacing, in the process of installing new kitchen cabinets you might find that plumbing or electrical needs to be rerouted. You might think that a new layout is what your Los Angeles kitchen needs, but with home prices projected to fall this year, kitchen cabinet refacing is probably a better answer and a wiser investment in your home.

Sources

• National Association of Realtors: Tighter Lending Standards Good For Housing, But Will Dampen Sales
• The Wall Street Journal: Realtors Predict Price Drop, Lower Forecasts for Sales

About the Author
Gabriel Traverso is a freelance writer, professional musician, and an artist. He resides with his family in Reno, NV.