How to Amp Up The Resale Value of Your Home
Whether you're
putting your home on the market this year or in the next five years, it is a
smart decision to start building your home's resale value now. Here are some
ways to create a comfortable home while making it easier to put more money into
your bank account on closing day.
Small
Maintenance and Repairs
If
you think that home maintenance on the weekends waste your time and energy,
think again. The small chores you do around your home prevents it from losing
value. Neglecting small maintenance and repairs causes 10% of your home's value
to walk out your door and slip through your windows. Most appraisers claim that
homes showing little to no preventative maintenance can depreciate from $15,000
to $20,000.
A
study conducted by researchers at the University of Connecticut
and Syracuse University shows that regular maintenance boosts your home value
by about 1% per year. However, ongoing maintenance costs offset that value,
which means that regular maintenance actually slows down your rate of
depreciation. Furthermore, because homebuyers generally notice any repairs
needed upon buying a new home, proactive maintenance lets the homebuyer know
that he or she will not have to spend extra money to maintain the basics. This makes your
home more attractive, and thus more likely to get higher priced offers.
Maintaining
the basics can cost you little money and certainly some effort, but there’s a
way to accomplish this very important activity smartly. This article by HouseLogic, for example, shows you how to keep home maintenance below $300 a
year. Planning ahead will also help make
maintaining your home easier. Most professional appraisers and real estate
agents recommend a proactive maintenance schedule that includes:
·Keeping enough cash on hand to replace systems and
materials
·Creating and following a maintenance schedule
·Planning a room redo every year
·Keeping a notebook of all your maintenance and repairs
Landscaping
The
Virginia Cooperative Extension at Virginia Tech published a study that
shows landscaping can increase a home's value by 15%. The study claims that a home valued at
$150,000 could increase its value between $8,300 and $19,000 with the addition
of landscaping. Particular landscape elements add different value. For
instance, landscape design can increase your home's value by 42%, plant size
can increase your home's value by 32%, and diversity in plants can increase
your home's value by 22%.
Replace
Entrance Doors
If
your entry doors are wood, consider switching them out for either fiberglass or
steel doors. Steel doors add style and architectural interest to your home
while improving security; you can add a deadbolt and electronic keypads to keep
out intruders. Unlike wood doors, steel doors do not rot or splinter.
Alternatively,
fiberglass doors can be designed to look like wood doors and give your home a
modern look. Fiberglass doors conserve more energy than steel doors.
Pricewise,
a steel door will cost you $1,335 with a 91% return on investment whereas a
fiberglass door will cost you $3,126 with an 82.3% return on investment.
Garage
Door Replacement
At
first, you might not think that your garage door increases the value of your
home. However, your garage door distinguishes your home from the other homes on
your block. As the largest entryway of a house, garage doors get noticed first
because they're the focal point of your home. If you want to quickly increase
the resale value of your home, you need to make the most of this space.
Some
interesting things being done with garage doors include:
- Increased
Size:
Bigger garage doors help homes stand out more, and homeowners can do more
creatively with them.
- Bold
Colors: Bright and bold colors now can
complement the color of your home, or you can build a concept around the
color of your home.
- Faux
Wood:
You can install fiberglass or steel garage doors that look like wood
garage doors. This gives your home a new level of sophistication.
- Windows:
Large Windows on your garage door improve the aesthetic of your home, and
provide light into your garage so that it's no longer a dark space.
More
importantly, a garage door replacement will cost you $1,652 and add $1,512 to
the value of your home; that's a return on your investment of 91.5%.
Fiberglass
Attic Insulation
While
energy efficiency is still not the sexiest selling point of your home,
installing fiberglass attic insulation saves energy and garners a big payback
on your investment. According to Remodeling Magazine's 2016 Cost vs. Value top trends report, fiberglass attic insulation gained the top return
on investment among the 30 projects in this year's report. Using Remodel/Max as
the cost source, a fiberglass attic insulation project cost $1,268
nationwide. Real estate professionals
surveyed estimated that the work would boost the price of a home at resale,
within a year of its completion, by $1,482. That's a 116.9% return on
investment.
Replacing
Windows
Replacing
your windows is another way to save energy and increase your home's resale
value. Replacing your old windows with energy saving models will beautify your
home, keep it comfortable, and ease the workload of your HVAC system. According
to HGTV, you'll see a reduction in your utility bill by 7% to 15%.
However, if you're selling your home, you could expect a 60% to 70% recoupment
of your investment. The two types of replacement windows that fetch the best return are
vinyl and wood.
Remodeling
Your Kitchen
Kitchen
remodeling can get expensive, but small renovations can make your home more
buyer friendly. Changing your kitchen's texture and color using a matte finish
and neutral colors such as putty or grey enhances your home's resale value.
Because matte finishes have transitional qualities, your potential homebuyer
can easily match his or her stainless steel or black and white appliances.
Also, refinishing cabinetry, or switching to Energy Star™ appliances provide
comfort you like and pizazz buyers adore.
Flow
is important to any interior design of a home. If you feel that your kitchen
hinders a good flow, change it. A small investment to knock out a
non-structural wall or remove a kitchen island creates space and provides flow
that buyers love.
A
minor kitchen remodel can cost you $20,122 while putting $16,716 of resale
value into your home; that's an 83% payback on the project. If you want to do a
major kitchen model, this can cost you about $60,000 and put about $39,000 of
resale value into your home, which is only about a 65% payback on the project.
Therefore, consider a minor kitchen remodel first.
Bathroom
Addition or Remodel
Likewise,
carefully consider adding a bathroom or remodeling your bathroom. Switching out
your frosted glass shower doors for glass doors, cleaning the grout, replacing
the shower and floor tiles, switching out your sink or toilet, or replacing
your sink and shower fixtures can cost you little money.
Adding
a bathroom can get expensive, but it can reduce congestion during hectic times
and provide your guests with a bathroom. Consult with your real estate agent or
a local appraiser before deciding whether a full remodel or addition is right
for your situation. While a bathroom remodel will cost you about $18,000 with a
return on investment of about 66%, a bathroom addition will cost you about
$42,000 with a return on investment of about 56%. Therefore, it's best do your
due diligence before working on your bathroom.
Your Needs and
Buyers' Wants
On that note, if
you need to renovate your home, be sure to consider how those changes will
affect its appeal to future buyers. Knowing design trends will give you the
opportunity to make changes to your home based on where your needs
and your potential buyer's desires intersect, thus increasing your property's
resale value drastically.
Designers and
design websites provide great ideas when you’re brainstorming home renovations.
Keep in mind as you research, however, that you don’t want to sacrifice your
needs for a comfortable home just for the sake of what you think a future buyer
will want!
Email: andrea@myfloridaloan.com
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