For most home-owners, their property is the most valuable thing they own, and there are a number of reasons you might want to add value to your home. Perhaps you are going to sell it soon and want to invest in maximising the price. Maybe you want to make your home more enjoyable in a way that will “pay for itself” by increasing its value. Or perhaps the home in question is an investment property, and you want to improve it in order to maximise its rental value and resale price. Whatever the case, there are a number of things you can do to increase its value.
Extension
The most effective way to increase a property’s value is to make it bigger. Unfortunately, this can also be one of the most expensive ways. Even so, it can definitely be an investment that adds more to your property’s value than it costs, depending on the circumstances. The number of bedrooms is one of a key deciding factors in a property’s value, and adding a bathroom is also an effective way to increase a home’s worth. Adding one of each, according to Nationwide, can boost a property’s value by up to 20%.
The most cost-effective way to extend a property is by using part of the existing structure, which most commonly means a loft conversion, as this cuts out much of the expensive and labour-intensive building work. This also eliminates the problem of cutting into the garden’s space, as most “true” extensions will. However, actually increasing the size of a property can still deliver a net gain through added value in many cases.
Refurbishment and Redecorating
If changing the size of your property is not an option then its condition, and the condition and style of its décor, is also a significant factor in determining its value. Whether this delivers a net financial gain can be much harder to determine, as it depends on how much of an improvement it makes to the property. If the current decoration looks a bit worn or dated, then simply painting the walls and replacing flooring can be a relatively inexpensive way to increase its value. Repainting may also be worth doing if you are selling a property with questionable or contentious colour choices or strong elements of personal taste, in order to make it more neutral and broaden its appeal.
Refurbishing the kitchen or the bathroom is rather more expensive, but these are also two of the most important rooms from a valuation perspective, so this can still be profitable if the current set-up is past its best. If your goal is less abstract and more about actually selling the property in the very near future, then even little and negligible-cost things like touching up the paint on skirting boards can genuinely help you secure a sale a little bit quicker, and even that bit closer to your asking price.