When it comes to the value of your home, it’s all about appealing to the masses. While you may love having a pool, far too many buyers look at this feature and see the maintenance costs as a liability. So consider resale value before making major changes. Here are five steps you can take to make your home look more favorable to most buyers, and that will result in a rising value.
1. Improve Curb Appeal
The landscaping around your home does matter. You don’t have to hire a professional to make the yard look better. You can do most of this work yourself by trimming out dead branches, treating the weeds, mulching flower beds and trimming the bushes for a clean look.
2. Create Open Areas
Modern buyers are looking for open areas, and you can create them by taking out non-structural walls, or getting rid of a kitchen island. Before you start taking out walls, meet with a knowledgeable professional to be sure that they can be safely removed and to consider how you’ll reroute any water or electrical lines that are hidden behind the plaster.
3. Brighten up Dark Areas
If you have hallways, bathrooms, and other areas that lack windows, see if you can bring in natural light with tubular skylights. These reflective funnels bring light in from the outside to brighten dark areas and make your home seem more spacious and welcoming. They’re surprisingly affordable and unobtrusive. If you don’t have the budget to do that, add more lighting and creative ways to illuminate the space.
4. Eliminate Pests
As ICE Pest Control and Wildlife Removal of Toronto reminds, pests can damage the structure of your home and drag down the value of your property. Home inspectors and appraisers know the warning signs of infestations and the longer you have pests in your home the more they will decrease your home’s value. It is well worth the investment to let the pest control experts treat your home and ensure that the unwanted intruders are eliminated.
5. Make Repairs
When little things around your home are broken, it will harm the overall value. Take the time to fix those leaky faucets, and get the broken tiles replaced. A home that’s well-maintained is more appealing, and carries a much higher value than one that’s in obvious need of repair.
One of the best ways to keep your home value high is to stop and ask yourself how potential changes will appeal to future buyers. In this age of alternative energy, going solar can make a home more appealing, but buyers will also avoid changes that may require more work and maintenance on their part. With the right changes, you’ll not only make your home more enjoyable today, but you’ll also preserve and even boost the value.
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I’m a Certified General Appraiser and a residential member of Appraisal Institute. The tips you gave will in fact cause a better quality and condition rating to be given to your home, resulting in a little more value than it otherwise might have. One other low-cost tip I can offer: Remove the wallpaper, and paint the interior in neutral colors.
To validate this, watch House Hunters or Property Brothers on HGTV, and listen to the reactions of would-be buyers to wallpaper and paint. They will positively reject a house because they don’t like “that awful pink” in the bathroom–something that can be changed for a $30 can of paint and a little work. Note that this won’t increase your value, but it will increase the likelihood of selling your home.
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