If you are selling your home, you want to make sure that you get the best value for it. One of the best ways of achieving this is by hiring a good real estate agent. However, there are plenty of other things you can do to increase the value of your home and repairs and renovations are one of the most popular ways. Here, we give our tips on the best improvements you can make to improve home value.
Finish Up Downstairs
We dedicated an entire article to the process of finishing a basement and there’s a good reason why. A finished basement increases the amount of livable space in your home and gives you the potential to earn rental income. Those are both big selling points for someone looking to buy a home and that’s why a good quality and well thought-out finished basement can add tens of thousands of dollars to your home value.
Knock Down Walls and Open Up
If you look at many of the new homes in the Greater Toronto Area, you’ll notice that one of the most common terms used is “open concept”. This is when there is an open plan within a home and fewer dividing walls. It gives a greater feeling of space, allows more light into homes, and makes properties seem bigger. As the new developments show, this design style is very popular among buyers, so ensuring that you have an open concept layout in your home can help attract buyers and thus push up the value of your home.
There is an important note of caution that comes with this home value tip. The structural soundness of your home must be properly evaluated before you start knocking down walls. A professional structural engineer should be consulted, and you should also find a good home renovation contractor to ensure that the changes don’t affect the structural integrity of your home.
Transform Your Kitchen
There’s an old adage in real estate: “the kitchen sells the house”. Updates to the kitchen that include such buzz words as “Granite Countertops”, “Eat-in”, “Kitchen Island” and “Built-in” appliances can add a real boost to your property value. These are all signs of quality and are highly desired by today’s real estate buyer. Including these features in your kitchen will help but there are other ways that you can improve a room that is often the focal point of a family.
Adding new paint, ensuring there is sufficient cupboard space, making a space to eat. These are all changes that will improve your kitchen for you and, in-turn, help to increase the value of your home. In fact, some people consider remodeling a kitchen as the single best update you can make to improve home value.
Double Up with a Second Bathroom
Most modern home buyers want a bathroom and powder room as a minimum, with many new construction homes having as many bathrooms as bedrooms now. If you only have one bathroom in your home, you may find it negatively affecting the value of your home, with the buyer aware that they will have to make renovations to rectify the situation.
To avoid the potential reduction in value to your home, make it more appealing to buyers and perhaps increase the home value, you can install a second washroom. Be aware that in older homes, this may only be possible in the basement.
Get All Hands On Deck
Your outdoor space can have a big impact on your home value. In addition to being appealing to the eye, many people want gardens that are low maintenance, useful for hosting, and comfortable for summer evenings. A deck covers all those desires and can also help level off an uneven garden – making the space more useful.
If it is built well, a deck can transform a garden and some modern building techniques mean that it will often need little work to maintain. They’re great for outdoor meals, barbecues or just lounging around and they reduce the amount of grass and soil in your garden – so take away a lot of the usual chores. Once again, making sure the work is completed by a quality contractor is the best way to ensure a good job and increased value in your home.
Keep Your House in Order
There’s lots of work involved in maintaining a home and, in addition to the regular maintenance, there are problems that appear along the way. It could be something small like a leaky faucet or a creaky floorboard, or it could be a major issue like the need to replace an ageing heating system or repair the roof. Work outside is just as important as inside; in the minds of many Buyers, well-kept lawns and grounds are a sign of a conscientious and good homeowner, which will give the Buyer more confidence in the condition and care of the home itself.
Generally, the small problems are more obvious and you can probably fix them yourself with little effort. However, if you leave them unattended, prospective buyers may wonder what other issues you have been avoided and that can affect your home’s value. On the flip side, a buyer will have confidence in a home that has been cared for and well maintained, so they may be prepared to pay a little more for the peace of mind.
Get Your Paintbrush Out
This could have been in the general repairs category but deserves a place of its own. A fresh coat of paint in your home can have the same impact on a buyer – giving them confidence that you have looked after your home. However, it is a more dramatic improvement than fixing a faucet and can make a huge difference to the look of your home.
In addition to giving the space a newer look, a fresh coat of light, neutral paint can make the property feel lighter and roomier, while also giving the new buyer a blank canvas to work from – a big positive for many people.
Pull the Rug From Under Your Feet
Once upon a time, everyone wanted carpets in their home. They were often considered a luxury feature and gave a warmth to a home – particularly during those cold Canadian winters. However, times have changed. People became aware of the dirt and stains that carpets collect, which can make it much harder to keep them looking fresh and clean and also adversely affect those sensitive to allergens.
In the meantime, wood floors became more available and affordable, with a variety of options available. In addition to the quality look, wooden floorboards collect less mess, are simple to clean, and are unlikely to stain so easily.
Therefore, if you have carpets in your home, particularly in principal living areas like family and dining rooms, it might be worth replacing them with wooden flooring. Most buyers prefer to buy a “move-in ready” home, which includes up-to-date flooring.
I like that point about how the work outside is just as important as what’s done inside. That’s something I kind of forgot as I was planning what renovations need to be done. I’ve heard it’s usually a good idea to start with having the condition of the roof inspected.