Whether you're
putting your home on the market this year or in the next five years, it is a
smart decision to start building your home's resale value now. Here are some
ways to create a comfortable home while making it easier to put more money into
your bank account on closing day.
Small Maintenance and Repairs
If you think that home
maintenance on the weekends waste your time and energy, think again. The small
chores you do around your home prevents it from losing value. Neglecting small
maintenance and repairs causes 10% of your home's value to walk out your door
and slip through your windows. Most appraisers claim that homes showing little
to no preventative maintenance can depreciate from $15,000 to $20,000.
A study conducted by researchers at the University
of Connecticut and Syracuse University shows that regular maintenance boosts
your home value by about 1% per year. However, ongoing maintenance costs offset
that value, which means that regular maintenance actually slows down your rate
of depreciation. Furthermore, because home buyers generally notice any repairs
needed upon buying a new home, proactive maintenance lets the home buyer know
that he or she will not have to spend extra money to maintain the basics. This makes your
home more attractive, and thus more likely to get higher priced offers.
Maintaining the basics can cost
you little money and certainly some effort, but there’s a way to accomplish
this very important activity smartly. This article by HouseLogic,
for example, shows you
how to keep home maintenance below $300 a year.
Planning ahead will also help make maintaining your home easier. Most
professional appraisers and real estate agents recommend a proactive
maintenance schedule that includes:
·
Keeping
enough cash on hand to replace systems and materials
·
Creating and
following a maintenance schedule
·
Planning a
room redo every year
·
Keeping a
notebook of all your maintenance and repairs
The Virginia Cooperative
Extension at Virginia
Tech published a study that shows
landscaping can increase a home's value by 15%.
The study claims that a home valued at $150,000 could increase its value
between $8,300 and $19,000 with the addition of landscaping. Particular
landscape elements add different value. For instance, landscape design can
increase your home's value by 42%, plant size can increase your home's value by
32%, and diversity in plants can increase your home's value by 22%.
If your entry doors are wood,
consider switching them out for either fiberglass or steel doors. Steel doors
add style and architectural interest to your home while improving security; you
can add a deadbolt and electronic keypads to keep out intruders. Unlike wood
doors, steel doors do not rot or splinter.
Alternatively, fiberglass doors
can be designed to look like wood doors and give your home a modern look.
Fiberglass doors conserve more energy than steel doors.
Price-wise, a steel door will cost
you $1,335 with a 91% return on investment whereas a fiberglass door will cost
you $3,126 with an 82.3% return on investment.
At first, you might not think
that your garage door increases the value of your home. However, your garage
door distinguishes your home from the other homes on your block. As the largest
entryway of a house, garage doors get noticed first because they're the focal
point of your home. If you want to quickly increase the resale value of your
home, you need to make the most of this space.
Some interesting things being
done with garage doors include:
- Increased Size: Bigger garage doors help homes stand
out more.
- Bold Colors: Bright and bold colors now can
complement the color of your home, or you can build a concept around the
color of your home.
- Faux Wood: You can install fiberglass or steel
garage doors that look like wood garage doors. This gives your home a new
level of sophistication.
- Windows: Large Windows on your garage door
improve the aesthetic of your home, and provide light into your garage so
that it's no longer a dark space.
More importantly, a garage door
replacement will cost you $1,652 and add $1,512 to the value of your home;
that's a return on your investment of 91.5%.
Fiberglass Attic Insulation
While energy efficiency is still
not the sexiest selling point of your home, installing fiberglass attic
insulation saves energy and garners a big payback on your investment. According
to Remodeling Magazine's 2016 Cost vs. Value top trends report, fiberglass attic insulation gained
the top return on investment among the 30 projects in this year's report. Using
Remodel/Max as the cost source, a fiberglass attic insulation project cost
$1,268 nationwide. Real estate
professionals surveyed estimated that the work would boost the price of a home
at resale, within a year of its completion, by $1,482. That's a 116.9% return
on investment.
Replacing your windows is another
way to save energy and increase your home's resale value. Replacing your old
windows with energy saving models will beautify your home, keep it comfortable,
and ease the workload of your HVAC system. According to HGTV, you'll see a reduction in your utility bill
by 7% to 15%. However, if you're selling your home, you could expect a 60% to
70% recoupment of your investment. The two types of replacement windows that fetch the
best return are vinyl
and wood.
Kitchen remodeling can get
expensive, but small renovations can make your home more buyer friendly.
Changing your kitchen's texture and color using a matte finish and neutral
colors such as putty or grey enhances your home's resale value. Because matte
finishes have transitional qualities, your potential homebuyer can easily match
his or her stainless steel or black and white appliances. Also, refinishing
cabinetry, or switching to Energy Star™ appliances provide comfort you like and
pizazz buyers adore.
Flow is important to any interior
design of a home. If you feel that your kitchen hinders a good flow, change it.
A small investment to knock out a non-structural wall or remove a kitchen
island creates space and provides flow that buyers love.
A minor kitchen remodel can cost
you $20,122 while putting $16,716 of resale value into your home; that's an 83%
payback on the project. If you want to do a major kitchen model, this can cost
you about $60,000 and put about $39,000 of resale value into your home, which
is only about a 65% payback on the project. Therefore, consider a minor kitchen
remodel first.
Bathroom Addition or Remodel
Likewise, carefully consider
adding a bathroom or remodeling your bathroom. Switching out your frosted glass
shower doors for glass doors, cleaning the grout, replacing the shower and
floor tiles, switching out your sink or toilet, or replacing your sink and
shower fixtures can cost you little money.
Adding a bathroom can get
expensive, but it can reduce congestion during hectic times and provide your
guests with a bathroom. Consult with your real estate agent or a local
appraiser before deciding whether a full remodel or addition is right for your
situation. While a bathroom remodel will cost you about $18,000 with a return
on investment of about 66%, a bathroom addition will cost you about $42,000
with a return on investment of about 56%. Therefore, it's best to do your due
diligence before working on your bathroom.
Your Needs and
Buyers' Wants
On that note, if
you need to renovate your home, be sure to consider how those changes will
affect its appeal to future buyers. Knowing design trends will give you the
opportunity to make changes to your home based on where your needs
and your potential buyer's desires intersect, thus increasing your property's
resale value drastically.
Designers and
design websites provide great ideas when you’re brainstorming home renovations.
Keep in mind as you research, however, that you don’t want to sacrifice your
needs for a comfortable home just for the sake of what you think a future buyer
will want!
Therefore, before
you begin making any changes to your home, consult your real estate agent. Real
estate agents, because we are constantly working with new buyer clients, have
insider insight into what homebuyers are looking for now and in the
future. We’ll be able to help you make smart choices when remodeling or
renovating your home.
If you think you
might want to remodel or renovate your home in the near future, or if you are
just curious about other ways you can increase its resale value, please reach
out to me!
