How To Increase The Value of Your Home
The front door squeaks when you enter the house. The garage door demands three attempts before the censor gives in and lets the door fully shut. The kitchen operates just fine, but the joy of the required daily deeds of making food for yourself and others diminishes. On top of the quirks, your house is about to go up for sale, or it’s at least an option for the near future.
Your home’s value always has potential beyond just fixing the kinks by also upgrading the daily functions that bring you joy, or used to when you first moved in. Identifying which home improvements are worth the investment, and will help to increase the value of your home can be difficult. Such home improvements can come in the form of replacements, renovation, or complete remodeling.
Your home’s value is determined by a number of factors, including the current market. While that is out of your personal control, here are some home improvements and renovations that you can do that will help to increase the value of your home, and will help you enjoy your home just that much more, too.
Kitchen Upgrade
A kitchen is almost always a source of interest for a potential buyer given its central purpose to most lifestyles. Kitchens are a place for preparing meals for basic necessity, culinary arts, and bonding, a place for entertaining, and a place for midnight snacking. Remodeling your kitchen can reap some positive, and lucrative, benefits. However, there are certain limits you may want to follow when choosing to remodel or renovate.
Your upgrade shouldn’t make the kitchen feel out of place. The upgrades should still maintain the theme and era of the rest of the home. That means that restaurant level appliances may out date the rest of the home so much as to turn off potential buyers, or decrease the value of the kitchen itself so far as to significantly lower the financial return in relation to your initial investment. An extremely new and modern kitchen remodeling may also disconnect the kitchen from the coziness of the rest of your home, creating doubts about a well-intended remodel in a potential buyer’s mind.
Instead, you may want to consider upgrades that replace old appliances with new but familiar appliances that may not intimidate a potential buyer. Consider features of these new appliances to embrace energy efficiency as well, so that a buyer’s investment in your home and it’s new kitchen can see future returns from saving energy and money, while simultaneously being more eco-friendly.
These features should also remain on par with the rest of the neighborhood. While you want to stand out in your neighborhood from other homes on the market, as well as make a good return on the money and time you invested into these upgrades, you also want to make sure your kitchen is attainable for potential buyers, and feels approachable and inviting. Too fancy may seem daunting and too outdated may seem unworthy of purchase, however upgrading to add new energy, show stability, and become energy efficient can display a unique, refreshing but still approachable angle.
Touch ups go a long way as well, such as repainting kitchen walls and scouting any floor replacements or partial floor replacements to fix any chipped wood or scratched vinyl flooring. New paint is a fairly low cost way to open up your kitchen and create an inviting atmosphere. Using paints that are low- to zero-VOC will also modernize your kitchen. These are paints that are engineered to release less toxins into the air circulating your home, unlike regular paint. They are therefore healthier to live with for homesteaders, and are better for the environment because of the decreased toxic release inside and outside the home. This can also be applied to all other rooms in your home, providing a refreshing facelift as well as a health benefit that can act as a positive and unique selling point. Replacing cabinets for a fresh upgrade can be a source of worthy investment, however also considering a renovation with new cabinet stains, versus a full replacement, can be just as effective and less costly.
Deck Addition
If you have a big enough backyard, adding a deck will help to increase your home’s value. This investment can vary greatly, depending on variables such as doing it yourself or hiring a contractor, including built in seating and decor, external furnishings and more. However, as “staycations” have become more popular, and the physical and emotional benefits of being outside continue to persist, creating a space for personal leisure and easy entertainment, if possible in your yard space, would add significant value to your home.
Treat your bathroom like a throne
Bathrooms get a lot of use in any home. Renovating your existing bathrooms, and considering adding a new one can help to increase the value of your home on the market.
If you are looking to add a bathroom, especially if you currently only have one, look to any underutilized space, or even spaces such as closets or that below any staircases to turn into an extra bathroom. These different spaces can provide room for a half-bath, where you generally want at least 18 square feet of space to include a toilet and sink. A full-bath would require between 30 to 35 square feet, depending on if you want a stand up shower or bathtub.
Bathrooms have also become a space for relaxation, often being treated like a personal spa. Using warm colors for new paint and accents can be a good starting place in reinventing your bathroom. Replacing the grout between walls and floor tiles of your bathroom can help make the bathroom look and feel cleaner for a longer period of time, alongside a thorough cleanse. If you are looking for more advanced upgrades in the bathroom, adding granite walls in the shower or replacing countertops with granite or marble can quickly elevate the space. Replacing or adding wall mounted lighting with warm tones will also help to make a bathroom more inviting for its daily uses.
Basic Updates and Upgrades
Keeping the paint fresh and your home clean will go a long way. Replace any deteriorating or molding wood, fix any leaks in the roof, get rid of any mold that is found, and address and fix any electrical or plumbing issues you come across. These updates showcase that you care about your home, and that you have maintained it so that it is and will continue to be a healthy, sturdy and safe home for its next owner.
If updating windows or insulation has crossed your mind, do so by incorporating environmentally conscious improvements. Energy efficient windows will save owners money on heating and cooling systems throughout the changing seasons as well as make them viable for a green tax reduction. Adding more insulation to your home in areas that leak air, such as attics or basements, window paneling, door frames, electrical sockets and light switches, can help you and future owners save money. Replacing an old water heater can also be a quick maintenance touch up and a money saving trick that will add value to your home.
Curb Appeal
Curb appeal is the attractiveness of a home based on its exterior. Repainting or cleaning the exterior of your home can add to its curb appeal, however will likely not actually add value to your home in relation to the money you put into cleaning and painting. There are many ways to increase curb appeal while simultaneously increasing your home’s value.
Repainting or replacing front doors and garage doors can appeal to potential buyers by not only improving the functions of your home, but also upgrading its cosmetics given that these entrances are often one of the first things people see. Using manufactured stone veneer, or faux stone, to replace and upgrade the sides of your home, entryways, or driveways can add major curb appeal that will in return add value to your home. Replacing vinyl or cement with this accent will also provide benefits such as water resistance and resistance to corrosion so that the cosmetic appeal can be maintained.
Not your dream updates
You have likely been dreaming about those new solar panels for the roof, or a pool to beat the summer heat, for a while and considering upgrading and selling in the next few years may seem like the perfect opportunity. Maybe you finally thought you would start working out if you had a home gym, and eventually it would quite literally pay off. To be the bearer of not-the-best-news, these dream improvements will likely not reap any financial benefits.
While these may have massive benefits to your standard of living, enjoyment of your own home, and overall home atmosphere, they won’t result in a larger profit. However, such investments may help you sell your home faster because of the lifestyle angle buyers may perceive in viewing your home, and also in evaluating the accessibility of a greater variety of facilities and updates. Nonetheless, these improvements won’t increase your home’s value beyond immaterial benefits.
Get Started!
If you are looking to get started on those upgrades, or want some extra input on where to begin, contact us so we can help you in this exciting process of renovating your home!