Are you hoping to make changes to your home but you’re not sure which home upgrades will pay off when it comes time to sell?
Adding value to your home means understanding what buyers in your area want, what parts of your home need the most work, and which home upgrades are the most likely to improve your home’s value. Here are 7 great ones:
Give Your Kitchen New Life
The kitchen can make or break a buyer’s feeling about a home. If your kitchen is outdated, a good kitchen remodel or renovation will have a significant impact on your home’s value.
According to a 2019 survey by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), these are some of the top kitchen features that recent and hopeful home buyers are looking for:
- Stainless steel appliances
- Granite or natural stone kitchen countertops, or quartz
- White kitchen cabinetry
- Extra storage spaces, such as walk-in pantries
- Hardwood floors
- Double kitchen sinks
- A center island
- Farmhouse styles with lots of wood
- Vinyl and resilient flooring, especially for aging in place kitchens
Open up Your Floor Plan
Are you a fan of the much debated open-concept floor plan? Knocking down the right walls can be one of the best ways to improve resale value. The same NAHB survey revealed that 86% of buyers want the kitchen and dining room to be completely or partly open.
If you like the idea of connecting these spaces, but tearing down a wall isn’t an option for you, there are other clever ways to visually open up a living space without making major structural changes.
A Luxurious and Safe Bathroom
It’s easy to see how a fresh, modern bathroom could improve home value. Today’s buyers are looking for high-end fixtures like wall-mounted sinks, faucets, and toilets.
Looking to the future, seniors are expected to make up 21% of the population by 2040, but most bathrooms aren’t equipped to meet their needs for comfort and safety. That’s why it’s a smart move to make your bathroom safer and more luxurious — not just for seniors, but for anyone!
- Walk-in showers
- Master bathroom on the first floor
- Comfort-height toilets (which are slightly taller than most toilets)
- Shower seats and grab bars
- Non-slip flooring
Keep in mind that it’s not just bathroom quality that boosts your home’s value, but the number of bathrooms as well. Buyers prefer homes with two or two-and-a-half bathrooms, so adding a full or half-bath to your home is one of the most effective ways to increase its overall value.
Energy Efficient Features Rule
More and more people like the idea of living in an environmentally friendly home. In fact, it’s important to more than two-thirds of buyers. If you’re planning home upgrades, consider incorporating features like double-pane windows, LED lighting, water-conserving toilets, and Energy Star appliances.
Also think about what environmentally friendly features you would enjoy yourself. Programmable thermostats, fans, window shades, and lighting systems can make home life more comfortable and convenient.
While we’re on the subject of technology, some other high-tech features that buyers want are:
- Security cameras
- Video doorbells
- Wireless home security systems
Add Livable Space with a Finished Basement
Adding liveable square footage can significantly increase your home’s value, so if you have an unfinished basement, you may be able to convert it into a new, liveable space relatively inexpensively.
Whether it becomes a bedroom suite, TV room, game room, home office, or exercise room is up to you!
Home Additions: More Space, More Value
Another way to increase square footage is to simply add on to your home. A home addition can be used to create:
- Extra space to expand your kitchen
- Home storage, like a walk-in pantry or closet
- A separate master suite with a bedroom and bathroom
- A sunroom
- A conveniently located laundry room (which topped the list of must-have amenities in NAHB’s survey)
To get the most value out of your home addition project, make sure the space has heating and matches the design of the rest of your home.
Boost Curb Appeal
It’s no surprise that a spruced-up exterior can improve home value. Is there anything about the outside of your property that could be improved?
Is your front door looking a little shabby? Maybe you’d like a bigger porch. Maybe your garage is too small. Or maybe a new set of front steps with fashionable railings would be the cherry on top of an otherwise stellar exterior.
ROI Isn’t Everything
It’s great to make financially savvy remodel choices. But unless you plan to sell your home in the near future, focusing only on ROI can be a mistake. It’s also important to make sure you’re creating a space that you love, a space that will make your life better.
Your enjoyment of your home is part of the return you get on your investment. It’s the part you experience day after day as you live your life, instead of just once when you sell your home.
As remodelers in the Portland/Vancouver area since 1992, we can help you plan home upgrades that strike the right balance between increasing your house’s resale value and honoring your own wants and needs. Whatever your home improvement goals are, we’re here to help you reach them.
We invite you to take a look at our past work and get in touch if you want to learn more about how we work!