Property value is determined by many different things. It depends on the area you live in, the size of your home, the age of your home but it can also depend on the appearance of your property. While some of these are things that you’re not able to change in order to boost your property value, there are some things that you can change to help you get a higher value rating. If you are planning on selling your property eventually it is advisable to follow the tips below.
Home improvements can go a long way to ensure that your home is staying on the higher end of the property value. A neglected house can very easily find itself dropping down the ranks and being worth a lot less than it was when you initially bought it. This can mean problems if you try and sell it because you’re not going to make a profit.
If you buy a home for a certain price and then do absolutely no work on it, it’s common sense that the monetary value of the home is going to be reduced over time. You need to keep it up to date and make sure that you’re staying with other trends. If your home doesn’t have it, yet another one does, it’s not hard to see which one has the better chance of selling in the market. You need to make sure that you’re meeting the demands at all times to keep your value high and make it a worthwhile investment for other people who are looking to buy.
Upgrading your Property
There are lots of ways that you can upgrade a home to make its value soar.
- Keep your yard tidy
An unruly yard will put off potential buyers in the future. If you’re trying to sell the home, investors will look for things that make it sell and this could very easily put them off as it’s one of the first things that potential buyers will see. Keep it tidy and if you can’t commit to keeping the grass cut and mown every few weeks, looking in to getting it flagstoned over to make the maintenance costs lower and make it look good.
- Get a new kitchen every 7-10 years
Appliances change often and a kitchen that’s kitted out in last decades gear isn’t going to rate as highly as a new, shiny kitchen will. You have to spend the money to make money in the property game. Ensure that you’re keeping your home nice and ready to sell at any moment as this will ensure that you’re going to get the highest value.
It’s the little things that count here – a new dishwasher that’s built in, quality countertops, and a decent flooring can make all the difference compared to old equipment and linoleum flooring.
- Decorate often
As well as keeping your equipment up to date and new, you want to make sure that your home is nice at all times. Wallpaper and paint can easily be tarnished by everyday living. Smoke, for example, is a big problem for wallpaper and it can stain it, but just general living can do the same thing. If you’re selling your home, especially if it’s furnished, you want to give the best impression possible to the people buying it, and that includes making it look just like new (Check out these useful interior decorating tips). Even a new paint job every few years can do wonders for the feeling of the home and make it feel and look much more fresh and healthy
- Expand the home
If you have the land to spare, a very common option is looking into an expansion. This can be in the shape of a garage, which instantly adds value to a property as it’s a safe place to store a vehicle that isn’t on the road. You can also look into conservatories, or even loft conversions, which add additional rooms to the house. These can all add value to the building and make it worth more than it was when you initially bought it. If you want to add on an extra ‘home’ to your property then you may want to look into companies such as United Dwelling that can help with this expansion. If you decide to rent this space out, it can bring in that extra bit of money for you which will be great to add to savings or any other changes for your home.
- Driveway
If you have a front yard and don’t feel like maintaining it, you can look into driveways. They’re easy to look after and only require jetting down to ensure that weeds don’t grow in the cracks, and they also make the building look a lot nicer. Having a driveway also means there’s a place to park a car on the property, which can have benefits when it comes to your insurance too, not just improving the value of your home!
- Flooring
Flooring, especially carpets, can wear away over the years. Getting them replaced can help for many reasons: if you stick with carpets, thicker ones can help with heating the home, meaning that you’re not spending as much on your energy bills, but it also looks and feels much nicer for people in the house. Wooden floors, also, can be a victim of time and you can find that they become scratched. It’s easy to repair this and doing so often will keep your flooring in good condition and make it worthy of the home you want to live in. If there are concrete floors anywhere in the house, say the garage, then those need to be looked at from time to time too. Uneven floors, pits or cracks in the concrete can all be cause for concern, and should be remedied using the right concrete leveling foam, a job that may be best left to the professionals.
Over all, it’s the little things that add value. While you’ll find that you really do have to spend money in order to keep your house a sound competitor in the market, you’ll also find that it’s worth it when the times comes to sell the house because you won’t be making a loss. If you neglect the home and don’t do much with it after you’ve bought it, you’ll find yourself very out of pocket, very easily, and it’ll be difficult to gain it back in a short amount of time. If you are in a situation were you need to sell your home fast and don’t have the funds available to upgrade the property you could perhaps opt for a bridge loan. Bridge loans or bridging loans are short term loans secured on your property, this type of finance will allow you to upgrade your property and sell it faster.
You want to keep your home looking nice and make it something that you’re proud of. You can’t change where your home is, what the area is like or how old it is, but you can definitely make sure that it stands out and that it’s worth investing into. You don’t want to risk it looking the same as all the other homes in the area and going for the same price. The market changes often, make sure that your home can withstand it and it has a reason to be priced higher than original.