With the property market in crisis and house prices falling, it has become increasingly important for home owners to give priority to home improvements that will help add significant value to your property’s sale price.
But with so many home improvement options available, how do you know which to invest in first?
Below we have outlined the top ten ways to increase your home’s value:
1. Enhance the first impression
The simplest rule to follow when beginning home improvement is to consider what can be seen from the outside, and work on those things first. The first impression is one of the primary determining factors for potential buyers. While not a large factor in appraising home value, appearance is paramount in terms of saleability.
So how do you go about improving the first impression of your home? Start by reducing clutter, painting your home’s exterior, replacing shabby looking exterior doors and improving the landscaping – all things you could do yourself without investing a fortune!
2. Increase the Property’s footprint
The size and living space of a home is one of the primary factors in both appraised value as well as the resale price a home will fetch when listed for sale.
If you have an unfinished basement or other space in your home that can be converted into finished living space, start there. Finishing a basement or attic space is far less expensive than a room addition.
To determine whether a room addition is a good investment, you need to research the neighborhood a bit. You want to know the average size of the homes in your neighborhood; if yours falls well below the average, then a room addition could be a good investment. On the other hand, if you home is larger than most homes in your neighborhood, you may not recoup your investment in a room addition.
3. Update Bathrooms
If your home has out of date bathrooms, then updating them is likely to be a good investment to increase the resale value. Most buyers are attracted to a home with modern, spacious and up to date bathrooms.
4. Remodel the Kitchen
As with bathrooms, updating an older kitchen can often times increase the resale value of a home. You can cut costs by refinishing cabinets, installing new appliances, countertops and flooring and improving the lighting in your kitchen.
If you want to go that little bit further you could invest in a bespoke handmade kitchen, or perhaps just some handmade kitchen units to add that touch of quality. bespoke handmade kitchen are custom made from scratch which means they can be specifically tailored to the available space, whilst also providing exceptional build quality and standard of finish.
5. Add Storage Space
Buyers today want plenty of room to store things, so anything you can do to increase the amount of space and functional storage capacity of your home will help add resale value and is often less expensive than major renovations, repairs or room addition projects.
6. Add a Garage
If your home does not have a garage, adding one can be another good investment to increase resale value; especially if you live in an area where on street parking is not available or where crime rates are high.
7. Fix any major faults
If your home has an older roof, heating and air conditioning system, water heater or other major component that is either at or past its useful life, then you almost have no choice but to replace such components.
For one thing, not replacing major components will lead to other maintenance costs down the road. For instance, if you have a leaky roof, it will lead to dry rot and other costly problems.
Secondly, when you do go to sell your home, these things will either need to be done prior to the sale or will be deducted from the potential sale price as credits to the buyer.
8. Paint and Redecorate the Interior
Be sure to use neutral colours when repainting your home’s interior. Remember that interior decoration is very personal and future owners may not like any bright shades you may have used, or the prospect of struggling to paint over them.
If you do decorate your home with bright paint, be prepared to paint over it with neutral colours prior to putting the property up for sale.
9. Increase and Improve Outdoor Living Space
As with adding a garage, the return on investment for adding outdoor living space such as a screened porch, deck or patio is largely dependent on geography
If you live in an area where people tend to spend a lot of time outdoors, then this can be a very good investment and is generally less costly than adding interior living space.
However, if the norm in your area, due to climate and weather conditions, is not conducive to spending a lot of time outdoors, then it may not make much sense to invest heavily in outdoor living space.
10. Replace Siding and/or Windows
Replacing windows can be another high-return investment. If your home has unsightly windows, or windows made from wood or aluminum, then replacing them with modern double glazed windows will increase both the exterior appeal and energy efficiency of your home.
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