Your home is probably one of the biggest investments in your life. If this is true for you, then you may want to take steps to keep it in excellent condition.
Maintaining your home and adding smart improvements are some ways to improve your home’s market value. Whether you’re planning to sell soon, or you simply want to build equity, here are some tips to consider.
Add Extra Space
Bigger homes are usually more expensive. We know we are stating the obvious, but stick with us for a while longer. The recent median price of homes was around £130 per square foot, regardless of the size of the house. This means that you can add value to your property by adding more space.
Take a look at your home. Is there any chance you could remove some walls and open up your space to make it bigger? Can you find a spot for a second bathroom?
The only thing to keep in mind is that the cost of renovations is usually higher than the resale value increase. For instance, let’s assume you want to add a mid-range bathroom with nice fixtures and appliances. This addition could boost the market value of your home with £30,000. As good as this may sound, keep in mind that the cost of completing this project might be as high as £50,000. This means you’d make less money than you’ve spent. Nevertheless, if you don’t intend to sell your home in the near future, you’ll enjoy your second bathroom for a while, and this may make it worthwhile. Just make sure that the renovations you have in mind are useful to you and that they fit your available budget.
Let’s take another look at the above example. Assuming that your home is worth £200,000 and you spend £50,000 to add a second bathroom, the new market value of your property will be £230,000. If you sold it soon after the renovation, you’d lose £20,000. However, if you intend to continue living in your home until it appreciates enough to compensate the loss, you’d break even. Nevertheless, such predictions are very difficult to make. Statistics show that recent sellers who lived in their homes for eight to ten years earned about 17% (about £5,000) more than what they paid for their property. This means that if you lived in your home long enough and you sold it in similar market conditions, you could earn back your £20,000 plus an extra £15,000.
Make Your Home Energy-Efficient
If you thought added energy efficiency wouldn’t be the best method to increase the value of your home, you’d be right. However, since we’ve added it here, there must be something positive about it. Did you know that almost three quarters of all real estate professionals stated that promoting energy efficiency in their listings was helpful?
Let’s see what energy efficiency areas you should focus on to increase the value of your property. According to recent homebuyers, these were the most important features that influenced their purchasing decision:
- Lower heating and cooling costs (33%)
- Modern windows, doors and siding installations (29%)
- Low-consumption lighting fixtures and bulbs (23%)
- Energy-efficient household appliances (21%)
- Energy conservation measures achieved through landscaping (10%)
- Solar panels installation (3%)
Let’s suppose you upgrade 10 of your windows to increase their energy efficiency. If you chose vinyl windows, this could cost you about £16,000. You’d probably make back about 70% on your spending, so the market value of your house would increase by £12,000 at least. In addition, you’d slash your utility bills for the entire duration of living in that house.
Update Appliances And Systems
Potential buyers tend to perceive as more valuable those properties that require less maintenance. By ensuring that all of your systems and appliances are modern and fully functional, you can make your property look more valuable. Perform a close inspection of these appliances. If the air conditioner doesn’t provide enough cool air, clean the filters or find the problem and sort it out. If you find leaking faucets, replace or repair them. If the water heater is the same age as your grandmother, buy a new one. If the roof is in very bad shape, consider replacing it. If you go for a mid-range roofing replacement, you might expect to spend about £22,000. This improvement would increase the value of your property by more than £15,000, thus bringing a return on your investment of almost 70%.
On the other hand, if making repairs isn’t within your budget capability, but you want to sell your home fast, consider selling it to cash home buyers such as Avante Home Buyers. House-buying businesses like these are willing to purchase homes in any condition for cash.
Landscape your Garden
Curb appeal is how your home looks from the outside and is what makes a first impression. Your home’s exterior should make a potential buyer want to get inside your home. If you have a dull yard compared with nearby homes, you may want to repaint your front door or plant flowers.
Potential buyers don’t want to be faced with an unruly garden that they will need to spend a lot of time and money on taming before they can enjoy it. Outdoor space is a crucial selling point for your property. Ensure that your garden is buyer ready, contact environetuk to clear any stubborn weeds and create a garden that your buyer can see themselves relaxing in. There are several landscaping options and other additions for your home to improve its value.
Get Some New Technology
Tech geeks will probably love this idea. People are more and more interested in buying smart homes that feature cool gadgets and gizmos. Here are some findings of a recent survey on potential homebuyers about technology they would like to have already installed in their new home:
- Smart thermostats (77%)
- Smart fire and carbon monoxide detectors (75%, respectively 70%)
- Smart locks and lighting systems (63% each)
As you can see, upgrading your home with new technology could bring you a nice return on your investment.
Key Takeaway
Although you want to improve your home to raise its value, you should also be careful not to overdo the improvements. Remember that you want to spend on improvements that will provide returns. Improvements to increase storage, boost curb appeal, and make running the home smart and efficient are the best ways to increase its value.