What Home Improvements Offer The Most Value
As any homeowner will know, your home is an ongoing project, always with something else to do or improve. There can also come the time and question of do you renovate or move? Knowing what work will offer the most return and add the most value to your home can come in handy whether you’re looking to move soon, or if you decide to sell in the future.
Why Should You Improve Your Home?
There are many reasons people look to improve their home, and Covid was a big driver in homeowners looking at whether to finally make that move or to invest in a bigger project. There can come a time, particularly when families are growing or situations change where the consideration comes for more space, or to move and how to get the best price for your home when it sells. It’s all about balancing personal circumstances and costs.
Before you start to seriously entertain the idea of moving or improving, take a close look at finances. How much your home is worth, as well as how much you are willing to spend on improvements. Then also looking at houses in the nearby area and seeing how much they are worth and what they have is also a good idea.
What Home Improvement Offers The Biggest Return?
This will depend on the level of work you do, the value of your home and how much you spend, but generally speaking updating your kitchen, converting a loft or garage into another room, or adding off street parking offer the most value, with each of them adding around 15% to the value of your home.
Kitchen
Probably the most popular option for adding value, and doable in every home as they will all have a kitchen. This can be as simple as updating the units, to a bigger project of knocking walls through and completely changing the layout. Open plan living is hotly debated, as trend wise it is still very popular, but the current climate has many scrutinising their heating bills. If it’s for you, review what works for your living arrangements. If it’s for sale, pay close attention to what has sold nearby.
Converting Loft/Garage
This is also popular and was a go to in the pandemic. Many looked to add a home office, hobby room, or ‘granny annex’ to help accommodate the new circumstances, which in turn will go on to become a big selling point. A successful conversion however may require planning permission, which can turn this into a larger project than some are willing to take on, even if it does add value.
Add Off Street Parking
Parking is a big consideration in buying a property so adding/updating parking off the street can really make a sale, particularly in a built up area. Depending on your home, this could be as simple as removing a front garden and expanding current parking. It could be a bigger piece of work where you have to look at dropping kerbs and reinforcing pavement, but either way it will serve you well in a sale.
What Other Home Improvements Will Add Value?
There are lots of other projects that will help to add value to your home or help sell it if that’s your end goal.
Updating or landscaping your garden could add up to 10% on the value. Beautiful outdoor space has become a hot commodity since Covid, and if you’re a keen gardener this could be an easy way to add value.
Updating your bathroom could add between 3-5% value, and it doesn’t have to be a full refit either. Updating key parts of the bathroom such as taps, a sink or a toilet can have a massive impact without the headache of ripping everything out.
Though not necessarily adding value, but definitely increasing your chances of a sale is by improving your ‘curb appeal’. This will differ depending on your home, but usually includes replacing or painting your front door, adding/cleaning lighting, ensuring all entrance paths are clear of weeds and debris and look nice and tidy.
If you’ve decided to move instead of improve, take a look at all of our homes for sale in the East Midlands.