Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Whether you're currently living in your first home or you've been moving around for years, every homeowner wants to ensure their house is as valuable as possible. A few obvious tips and tricks can help improve your home's overall value, such as maintaining utilities and fixing broken items. However, not every homeowner knows what home improvements are going to pay off the most when it comes time to sell. If you're planning on listing your home for sale sometime soon, make sure you're taking care of these improvements to best increase the value of your home.
The easiest place to change potential buyers' first impressions of your home is through the exterior. High-quality landscaping, clean and modern siding, and overall strong curb appeal can make a larger impact than you might think. In fact, nearly 90% of real estate agents encourage homeowners to invest in landscaping prior to selling because of how much it can strengthen your home's value. Clearly, a home that's in disrepair won't benefit quite as much from a beautiful lawn. However, if you've already got a home with excellent bones, a well-designed lawn and properly maintained exterior can get you a higher offer on it when you go to sell.
As more people go green and adopt eco-friendly lifestyles, energy-efficient fixes for your home are more valuable than ever. These sorts of improvements are also great for buyers looking to save on their utility costs, making them even more valuable for increasing your home's worth. To appeal to specifically eco-minded buyers and increase your home's relative value to this demographic, consider installing solar panels. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the average cost of solar PV panels has dropped more than 60% since 2010 and the cost of solar electric systems has dropped by 50% since that time. Alternatively, you can take more traditional approaches to reducing energy use by maintaining existing utilities, like your home's HVAC. At the very least, HVAC systems need to be inspected twice yearly for maximum efficiency.
When you're putting your home on the market, most buyers are looking for a house that's move-in ready. However, you might not necessarily have the budget to redo all the rooms in your home. If you're looking to renovate to increase your home's value, prioritize the areas of your home that are going to have the highest return on your investment. The kitchen and bathrooms in your home, in particular, are most likely to be the most worthwhile. If you're working with a limited budget, start in these areas; they might be some of the pricier updates, but they'll end up paying for themselves when you sell.
Not every homeowner is willing to renovate before selling, but that doesn't mean you can't improve your home's value. Even simply staging your home correctly can increase its value. Most people have a shocking amount of items cluttering up their home that can cause problems for staging. In fact, households in the United States have 300,000 things in them on average. Try cleaning out your home thoroughly before appropriately staging. This will help potential buyers to see themselves in your home, meaning they'll be more likely to make an offer.
When looking to improve your home's overall value, not every fix is created equal. Prioritize these home fixes to increase your home's resale value and help you get a better offer when you post your listing for the house.
