How to Increase the Value of Your House Before Selling
One of the great things about your home is that it not only gives you and your family a place to live, but it provides a natural type of investment. Your house will naturally appreciate and grow in value, typically. There are some instances where your house appreciates slower over time. It is possible to find yourself in a situation where you are trying to sell your home quickly after purchase. You will find that your house may not have increased in value in the time that you have owned it. For now, the focus of this article is things that increase the value of your house.
Improve the Look of Your House
One of the top things that increases the value of your house is improving its curb appeal. When there are homes for sale, the first thing a potential buyer sees is the outside of your house. All real estate agents will recommend doing some work to the outside to make your house pop. It does not always have to be a significant amount of work, depending on the current look of your house. Focus your attention on your landscaping. A well-maintained landscape helps your home look clean and attractive. If you look at the front of your house, and it seems boring to you, add some flowers to give you a pop of color. Some other things that increase the value of your house include painting your front door. It may have dulled over time. Consider getting new garage doors to improve the value of your house. It may be surprising to know how much your garage doors impact the look of your home. If your garage doors look old or outdated, consider replacing them.
When you want to sell your house, you want to ensure that your roof is in good condition. Potential buyers are going to look at the roof and will want to know the age. If your roof is not in the best shape, you may want to consider replacing it. If you do not replace it, a potential buyer may ask for a replacement before they buy your house. You may want to seriously consider a residential roof replacement.
Improve the Interior of Your House
Once you have cleaned up the outside of your house, it is time to focus on the inside of your house. There are many things that increase the value of your house on the inside, as well as the outside. Two major areas in your house that potential buyers are interested in are the kitchen and the bathrooms. If you are going to pick only two areas to update, it should be those. Making a small remodel to your kitchen has the potential of adding $20,000 to the value of your house. A minor remodel may include updating the cabinets, flooring, countertops, sinks, and appliances. Making this update can recoup as much as 80 percent of what you spent on the remodel. The same is true for your bathroom. A simple remodel consists of new floors and updated fixtures. You can recoup about a 70 percent return on your investment. If you want to really upgrade your bathroom by making it upscale, you will see a 50 percent return. An upscale remodel consists of a heated floor, designer fixtures, and custom cabinets
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Increase the Space in Your Home
It may be an obvious statement that larger houses sell for a higher amount of money. Something that increases the value of your house is adding square footage to your home. It may seem impossible, but if you look around your house, you can find places where you can remove walls. Perhaps instead, you want to add another bathroom. This is an area where you must be careful because you can easily spend way more money than you will ever get back on the sale of your house. If you are expanding the space in your home for your own personal needs, then it may be worth it to you. However, if you are only adding space to increase your resell value, you must be careful. If you add a middle of the run bathroom with a toilet, shower, and nice sink, it is going to cost around $50,000 but will only add close to $30,000 to the value of your home. This is a pretty good return on your investment. It is critical to make sure that the addition is worth it. You can also choose to stay in your house for a short amount of time until the value of the house increases enough for you to balance the amount you paid and the added value of your house.
Make Your Home More Energy Efficient
You may think that making your home more energy efficient is not going to make anyone excited to buy your house. That is simply not true. Many real estate agents will tell you that energy efficiency is one of the things that increase the value of your house. There are many ways to improve the overall efficiency of your home. Some are more important than others. The area in which you live could dictate which items are more important to potential home buyers. Your first focus should be lowering the amount it costs to heat and cool your home. Many home buyers are interested in reducing those bills. You can install new windows, doors, and siding to help improve the costs of your heating and air conditioning. You can replace all of the windows in your home with vinyl windows or double-paned windows. Replacing just ten windows is going to cost you close to $20,000 but could increase the value of your house by about $12,000. If you do not have the money to pay for these types of upgrades, you could consider an energy efficient mortgage. These mortgages allow you to borrow additional money to make the upgrades you need.
Potential buyers are interested in seeing energy-efficient lighting and appliances in a home they want to purchase. You can make sure that all of your light bulbs are LED, which is an easy upgrade and comes with a minimal expense. It may take time to adjust to the lighting, but it could be the difference between selling or not. Energy efficient appliances help satisfy those buyers that are energy conscious while increasing the value of your home. If your appliances are new and do not need to be repaired, you may not want to replace the appliances. However, if it is time to replace them, you should consider energy-efficient models. If you really want to make an efficient impact, you can consider adding solar panels to your home’s roof. This is a large commitment because solar panels are expensive and require work to the structure of your house. They may not immediately increase the value of your home. If you are planning to stay in your home for a while and want to be more efficient with your energy, solar panels may be the way to go. They help improve the value of your house over time. If you do not have the money to pay for solar panels, you may want to consider refinance loans to help pay for the work.
Update the Systems in the House
When someone is considering buying your house, they want to feel confident they are buying a house that will not give them problems. Some of the things that increase the value of your house and build confidence in potential buyers are to update the systems in the house. You want to make sure the HVAC system is functioning. If you know it makes a banging noise or does not quite cool the way it used to, you should have it cleaned and serviced. If there are problems, fix them. If there are leaks in the house, fix the plumbing issues. If you know the water heater is old, you should consider replacing it. If there is a need for electrical repair in your house, take care of it. Make sure you find the right person to handle your residential electrical work. Do not leave it for the next owners. Addressing these problems before you put your house on the market will increase the amount buyers are willing to pay. It will decrease the number of items a buyer asks you to fix, also.
Boost the Technology in Your House
One of the things that increase the value of your house is to add smart home products to your house. There are a group of people that do not want that kind of technology. You may turn them off from making a bid because of your smart home. However, many more people will be interested in all the ways you have created a smart home. They may make a bid for your house simply because it is a smart home. There are some smart gadgets that potential home buyers prefer over others. You might want to consider these first. They include smart thermostats, smart fire detectors, and smart carbon monoxide detectors. Other items to consider adding to your house include smart cameras, smart locks, and a smart lighting system. You may be able to find a deal to purchase many of these items at the same time to upgrade your house to a smart home.
Time To Do A Heavy Cleaning
Some things that increase the value of your house that may surprise you are heavy cleaning and organizing. While they may not increase the value for which your house appraises, they will improve your chances of getting bids that are around the price you want. Heavy cleaning and decluttering of your house are fairly inexpensive, but they will be time-consuming for you. You want to make sure all corners of the ceiling are cleaned. Make sure that your window blinds are dusted. There are some areas that may not get regular attention from you. Now is the time that they do. If you are going to list your house, not only do you want to remove all the clutter, but you want to remove as many personal items from the house as possible. You want to take down all the family photos and anything else that is highly personal. Some potential home buyers can not look past your stuff to see the house.
When You Are Ready
You have done all the things that increase the value of your house, and now you are ready to list it or even move out. When you put the house up for sale, you should disclose all the work you have done to it and give the information or business card of the professional that completed the work. This helps potential buyers see the work you have put into the house as well as have confidence the work was complete by a professional who can handle the commercial home renovation. When you are ready to move, you should consider hiring a commercial moving company. You may think you are saving some money by not hiring movers, but that is not the case. You are going to spend more time and energy trying to move everything yourself. Unless you have friends that are professional movers, you should make life a little easier for yourself and hire professionals to handle it for you.
There you have a list of many things that increase the value of your house. You want to plan carefully and make sure you are not spending so much money that you will not get it back when you go to sell your house. It is essential to upgrade many parts of your house, but it is equally important to remember that some upgrades are too costly, and you will be sinking more money into your home. There are some upgrades that a potential buyer may want to handle on their own.
