How to increase the value of your home in the current economy where house prices are going down in some areas while the rental price goes up? Is it worth renovating your home renovation in this market?
You might be a homeowner who is thinking of renovating your home to improve your living environment and family life. You are not planning to sell your house but are weary of whether it is worth doing a renovation in this economic climate.
You’ve read articles with headlines that say 5 Ways to Add Value To Your Home or 30 Proven ways To Increase The Value Of Your Home and other variations of similar titles. The titles are varied, but the content can be an exact copy and paste!
I discover those tips are mainly targeted at homeowners planning to sell their homes in the next few months.
Most of the tips are also geared towards instant cosmetic upgrades. Tips like: fresh paint, kitchen makeover, curb appeal, bathroom makeover, sprucing up the garden, and so on. The nature of those upgrades is to appeal to buyers’ instant gratification for as little cost as possible.
If you are not planning to sell your house in the next few months, should you worry about increasing the value of your home?
As homeowners who are planning to stay in their homes for the longer term, do you have plans and strategies to add value to your home while still living and enjoying it?
I would say, it is wise to think about adding value to your home, even if you are not planning to sell your home anytime soon. Why wouldn’t you?
One thing I always wonder is why would homeowners wait until they are thinking of selling their homes before they do up their homes. Why would you do all the nice things for future homeowners and deprive yourself of enjoying your home while living in it?
Why can’t you have the best of both worlds?
Renovate your home so you can enjoy it while you live in it and it will reward you with the increased value when you sell it in the future.
When you upgrade and update your home, you are increasing the value of your home.
Renovating your home to make it a more comfortable, beautiful and better place for you to live in, is adding value to your home and to your life.
Any future buyers will want the same thing as what you want as homeowners.
They want a beautiful, comfortable and functional home. If you enjoy your home and love living in your home, future buyers will enjoy them too. Those are the keys to increasing the value of your home.
You’ve heard this saying: ‘The value of my home is based on what a buyer is willing to pay for it’. It sounds clever but maybe we need to ask the next question: what makes the buyer willing to pay? What causes that desirability?
That would be a better question to ask in order to know how to increase the value of your home.
In this age of easy access to knowledge and information, homeowners and homebuyers are more astute and informed. Cosmetics renovation and quick fixes are no longer a trade secret. More buyers are willing to pay more for quality and long-term value.
What type of renovation will increase the value of your home?
Not all renovations will add value to your home. Two homeowners can renovate the same room in their house with a similar budget but the outcome could be different. That is the tricky part. Renovation not done well or thought through can even devalue your home.
Here are 3 renovation tips that will increase the value of your home.
- The layout of the house
Most homeowners call it the floor plan. The layout of your house is the feature that is a permanent part of your house. A good layout contributes to how people can move around the house from one room to another room with ease and natural flow without feeling squeezed through a lot of corridors and poky corners.
This type of layout will increase the value of your home because it is a desirable feature that every homeowner and buyer would like.
A bad layout will be quite obvious as you move around the house to experience how each room relates to another. For areas like the kitchen which is a highly functional space, a bad layout will impede your workflow in your food preparation and how you use the kitchen.
You can imagine, even if the kitchen is fully equipped with expensive, high-end equipment, it won’t help to make the kitchen a nice place to work or to entertain your guests.
There is a lot of discussion about floor plans whenever homeowners exchange notes about their renovation ideas. The mistake I discover is most homeowners place a lot of focus on a floor plan that looks great on paper but doesn’t necessarily turn out great or give you the wow factor in real life after it gets built.
Have you looked at the online listing of houses where you scrutinize the floor plans to find that when you walked into the open house, it doesn’t feel or look like what you imagined when you look at the floor plan?
Floor plans can only give us a 2-Dimension view of the room. The same floor plan can be drawn and look the same on paper to represent a room full of light and inviting or a room that is dark and dingy.
We experience our homes and environment in a 3-Dimensional view, length, breadth and height. We also feel, sense, smell, and touch our environment which can’t be experienced in 2-D floor plans.
The layout is also a big-ticket item to consider when you do your renovation. However, it is a good investment to put into your home to increase the value of your home for your own use and for long-term resale value.
The next time you do your renovation, think of the layout of your home and see where you can change to add value to your home.
Another benefit of having a good layout for your house is that for any renovation you need after that is just cosmetic renovation which will be lighter on your pocket.
- The Wow factor of the house
You might be thinking, If I don’t have an unlimited budget, do I have a chance to create the wow factor of the house?
Yes of course!
The wow factor doesn’t depend on having expensive or luxurious fittings in your home.
The wow factor is part of the design of your home. How you create the room and spaces in your home. What does it feel when you are in that room? Do you feel you want to stay in that room all day long? Do you feel inspired, nourished and refreshed?
Sometimes a contrast from one part of the house to another part of the house will create that wow factor. For example, one part of the house has a cozy, intimate theme and as you move to another part of the house, you are suddenly in an open space with a higher ceiling that overlooks a garden, which makes you say ‘Wow’!
I believe each house can be designed to have its own soul and character that is unique from any other house.
As I mentioned in the previous point, the layout or floor plan can be very similar but the design of the rooms can create a different effect. It is not about how many rooms you have or how big is the house, it is the thought you put into the design and the finer details that count.
The wow factor will add value to your home because it evokes the senses and desirability of every future buyer who walks into your house.
For the next renovation you are thinking of doing, think about what is the wow factor that you want to put into it. Which room would you create to have that effect?
- A light-filled room with a view
A light-filled room or a room with a view or light-filled room with a view is the feature that almost all homeowners and clients I come across will want to be on their ‘Have to’ list.
They can forgo other things but this feature is the number one request or sometimes the main reason for doing the renovation; to bring in the light into the house.
It is a human tendency to be drawn into and feel good in a room filled with natural light.
This type of renovation to your home will add value to your home because it is what most people desire to have in their homes. It gives people a feeling of instant relief where they can take a deep breath to say: Ahhh! It is nice to be in this room!
As you plan your next renovation, look through each room in your house and see where can you invest in adding value to your home. Pick a room that you will spend the most time in and invest in that room.
We love to help homeowners add value to their homes not only for future resale value but also for their personal use while they live in it.
Reach out to us and book the Free clarity call to discuss your renovation plan. We love to help you get clarity on how to add value to your home!
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