5 Ways to Increase Your Home’s Value

When the time comes to sell your home, it stands to reason that you'd want to get as much value out of it as possible. But few people realize that increasing your home's value is less the product of any one major move and is more about a series of smaller, more strategic ones. In truth, increasing your home's value is fairly straightforward - you just need to keep a few key things in mind along the way.

Improvement #1: Kitchen Renovations

By far, one of the biggest ways to immediately add value to your home comes by way of renovating your kitchen. This is because kitchens tend to be one of the areas of any house that fall out of date rather quickly. Whether it involves putting in new cabinets, investing in more modern and state-of-the-art appliances, installing new floors or performing some combination of these improvements all at the same time, it's a great way to instantly breathe some much-needed "fresh air" into a space.

Modern appliances tend to be more energy efficient than their older counterparts, making this a great way to help prospective buyers save money almost immediately after purchase. When a buyer looks at a home and sees that they don't have to perform any of these upgrades themselves, it can also help your home sell faster and for a higher price, too. Not only that, it also helps people more effectively picture themselves in a space. They can see how much time they'll be able to save when preparing meals, for example, and it's easier for them to envision what they'll be able to do with increased storage space (in the event that you're putting in new cabinets).

Improvement #2: Bathroom Updates

Another major way to increase your home's value is to invest in a bathroom upgrade. Again, this is a great way to not only reduce clutter, but also to help potential new homebuyers become more ecologically friendly at the same time. According to one recent study, even a relatively "minor" bathroom update can give you a 102% return on investment when it comes time to resell your home. This is the type of thing that prospective homebuyers take seriously, which means that you need to do so as well. Never forget that even the smallest rooms in a house can have a big, big impact on its ultimate resale value.

Improvement #3: Lighting Upgrades

Lighting upgrades may seem like a relatively minor improvement, but they're absolutely not as far as the resale value of your home is concerned. This is a topic that you can approach in a number of different ways depending on your perspective. In some situations, it could be as simple as replacing all of your existing light bulbs with energy efficient LED alternatives. This is another way to help make your home environmentally friendly, which will make it far more enticing to prospective buyers. You could even take the additional step of installing "smart" lighting, with Philips Hue bulbs being a prime example of that. Smart lighting can be connected to "intelligent" home automation systems like Amazon's Alexa or Apple's HomeKit, allowing you to control your lights using a smartphone or via voice command. This comes with the added benefit of being able to control the lighting in your home while you're away, or by setting automatic schedules that respond in real-time to certain events. But regardless, the brighter a room feels, the bigger it looks. Whenever you're thinking about selling your home, you want every space to look as big as it can possibly get.

Improvement #4: Fresh Paint

As was true with lighting, a fresh coat of paint can also make a space feel both cleaner and brighter in equal measure. According to another recent study, painting the interior of your home can result in a massive 107% return on investment when it comes time to sell. Even painting the outside leads to a 55% return on investment. The same source indicated that while painting the interior of your home costs an average of $987, it could increase the overall value of your home by as much as $2,000 or more.

Having said that, you'll still want to keep a few key things in mind. Always select warm, neutral colors for the best results and know which rooms need your immediate attention. Utilize paint to make smaller rooms look and feel bigger and place an emphasis on your kitchen, your bathrooms and entryways for maximum impact.

Improvement #5: Landscape Improvements

Finally, we arrive at the landscaping of your home - something that is far more important than most people realize. Always pay special attention to the entryway of your home and make sure that it looks as striking as possible - particularly for those listing photos. Be sure to repair or replace any damaged stepping stones, concrete paths and porch plants that you can to generate as much curb appeal as possible. While you're at it, be sure to give the front door a fresh coat of paint. If you don't necessarily have a "green thumb" to the point where you don't want to plant anything, add some potted plants to really cement the effect that you're going for. Overall, you always want people to be excited when they walk through the door of your home. The aforementioned best practices go a long way towards guaranteeing precisely that.

Love,

Kartik