While structurally same, every house has a different essence. The way we nurture it day by day and create our memories in it makes a house our home. Our home gets a new definition with every small and big home project we complete. These upgrades can satisfy personal aesthetic needs or it can also help in improving the value of the house. There is nothing sweeter than having your expenses turn to profitable investments. With a well thought-out upgrade, the house gets a facelift, not in its appearance alone, but in its improved home value as well. An added perk is if you are deciding to sell your house, the house doesn’t just sell for a higher price but it also sells fast.
The answer to decide which upgrades to go for lies in the allurement you get while seeing a house. Here is a list of 10 upgrades that gets me excited about a house and also makes me perceive the house of a high home value.
The outside
The entrance & the Curb Appeal – If it’s your first time visiting a house, the 3 prominent things that grab your attention are first, the house number for obvious reason to check whether it is the right house, second, the mailbox as it extends out of the house and acts as another point for locating house number, and third the overall appearance of the curb.
To add a zing to your house from the outside, upgrades like painting the door in an attractive color or polishing along with upgrading the knobs, fixtures & a stylish knocker gives a perfect makeover to the entrance. To add to the beauty, a well-maintained yard with colorful flowers creates the awe you desire. To add to the sophistication, classy lighting upgrades do the remaining charm. Adding accessories, a nice doormat and a piece of furniture, if there is space, help in creating the perfect ambiance. A garage door upgrade completes enhancing of the overall look and feel of your house exterior, thus improving the house’s value before stepping into the house. Not missing out on the perfect finish of the exterior wall, painting if there is a requirement.
Interior Charm
The Walls – Natural looking colors like the shades of blue and light gray are hot sellers per buyers’ preference. An article published by business insider covers the best choices in color that can help in improving the value of the house based on a report done by Zillow scouring more than 32,000 photos from home listings to see how paint colors impacted average sales prices. It also talks about colors that can reduce the value.
Flooring – Hard floors add more appeal to a house than carpet. And engineered wood is another preference for choosing something that maintains the style along with managing the cost. Reinstallation of carpet that is end to end is seen as a hassle, with concerns of the smelling hazardous chemicals used in them. The preference of carpet styles also varies per taste and preference.
The lighting – A well-lit house will appear to be more spacious and be welcoming to the guests. While elegant lighting adds sophistication to the house, recessed lighting adds cost cutting and energy efficiency. Customized and modernized lighting will add a unique style to the house and help home buyers select your house sooner.
Interior Details
More Space and the clutter free use of it – If the house has a big square footage but does not give a feel of its actual space, it will not be able to sell at a higher value. Organization and de-cluttering will make the house look bigger and full of space. Adding natural lights in the room makes the house look bigger. Also adding mirrors make space appear larger than the actual. Adding custom shelving to closets and garages adds space and options for organizing the home better, giving the feel of easy clutter management, thus, earning brownie points from the future owners of the house.
The Windows & doors – French windows or sliding doors both create a different and pleasing look. The windows and doors enhance the design of the house, adding a modern touch and also add lots of sunlight as natural light brightening the home as well as natural air reducing the cooling cost.
Easiest Ways to Increase Home Value
A kitchen is a place where modern day socializing happens, so adding more space and style to it is all worth it. Everyone dreams of having a kitchen like the ones in cookery shows. Upgraded appliances are an investment well spent. A beautiful kitchen is one sure shot way to win the heart of your potential home buyer and win your heart while you are cooking and socializing in it.
The Bathroom – Retouching on the bathrooms always has its rewards. A full blown change or a minor alteration, both assures a guaranteed value increase. Changing the tiles, the bath tub or the faucet and sink or just adding a new paint or the lighting can get your home worth goes up. The master bathroom if made to be felt like a spa makes your house memorable to the potential buyer.
Energy Savings – In today’s age, having an energy efficient eco home is another big plus that improves the home value. The reward of going green is having a reduced cost while you are living in your house along with attracting energy conscious customers to buy the house. The energy efficiency can be added with products like solar water heater, whole house fan, etc.
The Backyard – Adding vegetation space, plant beds and foot friendly walking space in the back yard proves to be low maintenance with reduced efforts of weed cleaning. Adding room space outside of house like the patios, outside dining, and decks are all helpful in increasing the house saleability and worth. Adding a water feature like a fountain or big pots can add character to the backyard. If the water feature is not what quenches your thirst, then a pool addition is what you can think of. But having a pool comes with its own concerns, one of them being its safety. A very detailed pool safety items list can be found here.
Upgrades that lead to building more than the other houses in the neighborhood, extensive landscaping, even pools can be roadblocks for selling rather than improving the sales. So investments in such upgrades should be done more cautiously. More on such upgrades is explained in this forbes.com write up.
Use this calculator to compare your project cost vs. resale value, specific to your region:
A general result for a cost to resale value is given below:
From choosing the right house to having the right upgrades and buying the right insurance are all decisions that should be made wisely. There is not just one insurance that you have to manage, the insurances are for home, health, auto, dental, travel, pet, etc. To make right Insurance decisions, you first need to stay on top of things to keep a track of what you have in order to decide how you can optimize your insurance. A way to do it right is via insuredmine that helps to simplify insurance management and offer tips and reports for better insurance planning.
