Are you’re preparing to list your home for sale or looking to refinance your mortgage? If so, you’re probably wondering how to improve the value of your home. You may be surprised to learn that you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to boost your asking price.
Read on for our top 4 tips on adding value to your home today.
1. Increasing the Value of Your Home With a Deep Clean
You can never underestimate the value of a good deep clean and purge. You’ll have a difficult time getting someone to pay the asking price for a home that has garbage and debris in the front yard, clothes on the floor, or dust along all the baseboards.
If doing a deep clean is too daunting a project for you, consider hiring a cleaning service to come and do the dirty work for you. You can get a deal for your next project on sites that provide reputable references for services like cleaning.
2. How to Improve the Value of Your Home With Curb Appeal
If updates are your preferred way to increase the value of your home then consider spending at least half of those efforts on the front exterior. Here are some of our top tips:
- Make sure the landscaping is clean
- Remove any garbage, building supplies, weeds, toys, etc. from the front yard
- Consider repainting or touching up the painted parts of the exterior
- If your exterior is brick or stone, clean it or spray-wash it
- Update your house numbers with new, fresh ones
- Clear the roof and gutters of leaves or other debris
- Repair cracked walkways and keep them swept and tidy
First impressions go such a long way in showing the value of a home.
3. Make Some Energy Efficient Swaps
Swapping old windows for energy-efficient ones may not seem like an exciting way to increase your home’s value, but it’s a lucrative one. In fact, 69% of realtors found that energy efficiency promotion was very valuable.
Besides updating your windows, here are another few ways to make your house more eco-friendly:
- Remove lawn space and substitute with native landscaping to conserve water
- Update your HVAC system with new and efficient appliances
- Switch to energy-efficient lighting
- Update kitchen appliances for ones that qualify as “energy-efficient”
- Install solar panels
- Install storm doors
- Have your attic insulated
- Replace toilets and showerheads with water-saving ones
4. Get Professional Help
If you’re not sure where to start, or you don’t feel like you have an eye for design, enlisting the help of a professional is a great way to start.
For less than or around $100, many interior designers will come to your home to offer some general styling advice. When you contact them, let them know that you’re trying to increase the value of your home. Would they be available for a consultation?
For this relatively small cost, they can offer an unbiased and unemotional evaluation of your home. They also can spot potential problems that you may have become accustomed to while living in the home.
Make a list of all of their suggestions and then find a way to organize them. It could be least to most expensive, easiest skill level to hardest, quickest changes to longer projects, etc.
Then just get started.
Remember This!
Anyone can add value to their home, whether they’re a DIYer or not. You now know how to improve the value of your home without overspending or spreading yourself too thin.
Which of these will you try first?
Keep reading our blog for more tips and insights.