If you’re in a position where you own your own home, then you might see it as the place where you’ll grow old. It’s where you’ll start a family and where your kids will spend their formative years.
It could be more than that, however. It could be one of the largest assets for your retirement. Once your children have moved out, you might find that the house is a little too big. If that’s the case, you might want to downsize.
Depending on how you go about things, you could make a large profit from the sale. That’ll help you pay for a smaller home while putting a significant amount away for your retirement. That’s only if you’re able to improve your home’s value while you own it.
That’s easier said than done, as it’ll take a lot of upfront work and investment. Renovating your home in various ways can be one of the best ways to increase your home’s value. That mightn’t be the case for all house improvements.
Some will make a much larger impact than others. Thankfully, some of these are affordable, so you can start working on them whenever you want. The likes of awning windows and more might come to might. You could want to go somewhat bigger, though.
Easy & Affordable Ways To Increase Your Home’s Value
Cover Up The Rough Spots
If there are any parts of your home that don’t look visually appealing, then you’ll want to cover them up. There are multiple ways to do this, depending on what the issue itself is. Mold and similar factors will need to be treated at the source before repairing any damage.
Outside of these, there are quite a few affordable methods to cover up the rough spots around your home. A layer of paint will be the most obvious. It’s worth noting, however, that water damage will have to be treated first.
These will have a negative overall impact on your home’s value. If you paint over them, then it will ooze through the paint. Getting rid of any leaks before replastering and repainting is the easiest way of doing so, and you can do much of it yourself.
This should be done on the inside and outside, as your home’s exterior makes a significant impact on its selling price. These rough spots should be few and far between, so they wouldn’t take much time and money to address.
Try To Make Things Bigger
Larger homes naturally tend to sell for much more than their smaller counterparts. That makes an extension an appealing proposition. While that’s the most obvious way to increase your home’s value, it’s not the only one, and it can often be one of the more expensive.
Instead, you could do up an unfinished area, such as your basement or attic. You can find plenty of uses for either of these, depending on how much space you have. Using the area in the right way will increase the square footage of your home.
Depending on how much extra footage you get, you could add several thousand onto your home’s asking price. If you’re not in a position to increase the overall size of your home, there are alternative routes.
Many buyers look at certain rooms when they think about size. The more notable of these are the kitchen, living room, and bedrooms. If you can increase the usable space in each of these, then you’ll see an increase in your property value.
An obvious way of doing so is by knocking down any appropriate walls. Even partially demolishing some can add much more usable space across your home. That’ll give a much larger appearance, which should positively impact your selling price.
Focus On The Kitchen & Bathroom
If you have to spend a large amount of money on home improvements, then you’ll want to spend it in the right areas. Different renovations can affect your property value differently. The first areas you should look at are the kitchen and bathrooms, as these will have larger impacts on your selling price.
The kitchen is the heart of the home. Most people will spend a decent amount of their waking time at home there. Making sure this is appealing and fitted with high-quality, and relatively new, appliances is vital. While this may be the most expensive home renovation you can do, it will add a significant amount to your asking price.
The same can be said of the bathroom. If you invest in adding a second one, then your property value will shoot up instantly. You shouldn’t need to add a large one with all of the fittings, however. A well-designed second bathroom with a half-bath could be enough to draw in homebuyers and add to your home’s asking price.
Invest In Energy Efficiency
If you’ve lived in your home for a while, then you’ll know roughly how much your monthly bills will be. That lets you set aside a certain amount for them. In some cases, these utilities can be pretty high. If they are, there could be a few reasons behind it.
While the most obvious is a high usage, it could also be driven by your systems and appliances. If these aren’t energy efficient, your bills will be much higher than they should be. That’s a factor that will put off many homebuyers.
If that’s the case, they’ll have to choose between upgrading to energy-efficient appliances or putting up with high bills. That will lower the potential offer that they’ll have.
Making sure this is appealing and fitted with high-quality, and relatively new, appliances, such as Whirlpool appliances is vital. While this may be the most expensive home renovation you can do, it will add a significant amount to your asking price.
There are several areas you can look at with this, with your appliances being the most obvious. Next, you should look at your windows and doors to make sure they don’t have any cracks that could let heat out. Insulation, your electrics, and your plumbing will all play a role in this.
How To Pay For It
Once you know how to increase your home’s value, you might want to start doing so as soon as possible. You’ll need to make sure that you can afford it, however. That could be much easier said than done, given the costs often associated with home renovations.
You might be asking yourself how you can afford these improvements. The first thing you should do is to minimize the costs as much as possible. Most of the above, for example, should be quite affordable and have elements that you can do yourself.
If you can take a DIY approach to certain elements, then you can save a significant amount of money. That mightn’t always be an option, though. In that case, it’s worth budgeting and saving up for these improvements.
While you might be tempted by a loan to pay for everything, that isn’t always recommended. If you do take this path, you’ll need to make sure that you can afford it. Talk to a bank and determine how much you’ll have to pay back for the loan.
If that is an affordable option, then it could be recommended. If not, it’s worth saving up over time for your home improvements.
Wrapping Up
Trying to increase your home’s value can often take a lot of work. With the number of things you can do, it can often seem much more expensive than you can afford. By being smart and taking your time with these, it should be much more cost-effective.
If you’re planning on living in your home for some time, you can spread these home improvements across your time there. Though that could mean repairs and maintenance, it’ll make improvements more affordable than you’d expect.
It also gives you the time to save up for each of the larger home renovations you might be planning. Once you have, you should see your home’s value shoot up.