Most homeowners undertake renovation projects with the intent to boost the home’s resale value. Unfortunately, they often make upgrades out of personal preferences rather than thinking about what potential buyers would want. In deciphering what the buyers look for in a future home, you first need to determine who you’re selling your house to and what features and amenities would appeal to them.
Another way to add sensible home additions is to make a quick survey of all the neighborhood houses. You don’t want to spend a lot with a fancy makeover that’s more than the current house price in your area. It’s best to keep renovations small yet increase your home’s functionality.
Aside from these, you’ll also need to be realistic that not all home renovations will recoup costs at the same rate. Some may give you more than you expect, while others may not fetch you the ROI you planned on. That being said, you’ll need to focus on the essential upgrades to gain a decent add-on to your sale price in the future.
All these considered, which home renovations can then increase your home’s resale value? Here, we’ll give you several pointers that could help you sell for a commendable price.
Home Renovation Tips
There are numerous renovation projects you can tackle, but we’ve narrowed them down to six essential tips for you to follow when you want to sell a house quickly. Fortunately, they’re easy to remember as they stand for each of the letters of the word ‘Resale.’ All of these can help your intended projects.
1. R – Remember The Basics
When making essential upgrades, you need to take care of the basics first as buyers will expect it from your home. According to experts, roof replacements can recoup 107% of the cost during resale. This is because buyers want to make sure that the roof doesn’t have leaks and doesn’t have missing shingles or gutters.
On the other hand, prospective buyers also want a home that’s warm and cool at appropriate times of the year, so make sure you have adequate heating and cooling systems. HVAC can fetch 85% of its cost at resale.
While you’re at it, you can also redo your hardwood floors and expect a 100% return during resale. If you don’t have it, you can consider them since you’ll recover 106% of your expenses.
2. E – Enhance Your Exterior
What your house looks like outside is a preview of what buyers and visitors can expect during an open house. You can improve your home’s resale value by as much as 7%-14% when you spruce up your house’s curb appeal.
You can start painting your exterior in neutral tones and then adding a steel door that’ll recover 69-91% at resale. Aside from paint, you can also enhance your exteriors with a stone veneer. Not only does it look good, but it can also recover 96% of costs at resale.
Steel doors are energy-efficient and low maintenance. Metal’s cold-blocking powers work well for the winter months. If you fancy wooden doors, you can paint them in bold colors such as buttery yellow, powder blue, or forest green as it’ll surely catch the attention of both passersby and prospective buyers.
You can also give your lawn some TLC by mowing it, pruning shrubs, and planting perennials. Ninety-four percent of real estate agents believe that improving your house’s curb appeal can increase your home’s value now and during resale.
3. S – Space In, Space Out
Nowadays, buyers also want more space in and outside the house. This comes from the ongoing pandemic as most work and school activities now take place in the home. You can choose to knock down a few walls to open up the floor plan. Also, you can finish the basement or remodel it into a media room, a home gym, or a playroom for kids.
If you have extra rooms, you can consider turning them into an accessible laundry room or a home office complete with an extra phone line, data ports, and grounded outlets.
Outdoor space also counts. You can add a deck with benches and a fire pit for weekend hangouts. Construct it using durable materials, and you’ll be able to recover 8% of its cost at sale time. A mini-garden also works fine in the backyard.
4. A – Address Bathroom Issues
Another way to add value to your home is by upgrading the bathroom to make it more functional. Put in low-flow toilet fixtures, a walk-in shower, or a free-standing tub. You can even put toilet safety rails, a shower bench, and non-slip mats to appeal to older buyers who want to ‘age in place.’
5. L – Liven Up The Kitchen
Kitchens are a mainstay of home renovations. This is because most homeowners spend a lot of time in it to prepare meals and other gatherings.
When renovating kitchens, experts advise on doing minor remodeling such as updating cabinet fronts by adding cabinet boxes or installing cabinet lighting. This way, you can make an inexpensive upgrade that can fetch 77.6% of expenses upon resale. You can even swap cabinet knobs and handles to give it an upgraded look.
6. E – Embrace Energy Efficient Technologies
Last but not least is to include energy-efficient technologies to increase your home’s resale value. Buyers want to see themselves in your home and want to see if they’ll benefit from their stay in terms of savings on utilities.
You can upgrade to energy-efficient windows that block harmful UV rays and allow natural light to enter. Replacing old appliances with energy-star appliances are also a plus to your home’s resale value. If you have money to spare, you can install a solar water heater or solar panels on your roof.
Conclusion
Choosing home renovations to improve a home’s resale value requires finding out your buyer’s demographic and what amenities would appeal to them. This can include eye-catching landscape and exteriors, more open spaces inside and outside the home, functional fixtures in kitchens and baths, and energy-efficient technologies.
