Whether you’re looking to sell your home, or want to add value for the future, you may have considered making some improvements. Perhaps you’ve looked at increasing your property’s energy efficiency or updating the kitchen or bathroom. Maybe you’ve even thought about adding an extension. Also, compare estate agent fees here.
The question is, will taking on disruptive and expensive work be worth it? Will such improvements have an effect on the value of your house? Let’s take a look.
1. Buying Expensive Appliances And Utilities
Why spend thousands of pounds on a high-end products when you have no idea or not whether potential buyers have such features on their radar?
You might love the idea of a brand new washing machine or fridge but the person moving in ight be planning on a complete remodel. Fancy products might not be worth it in the long run.
Boilers, electrical wiring and plumbing are all vital assets that must be maintained, but they don’t need to be replaced if they’re already in working condition. If need be, ensure the kitchen is furnished with the basic white goods. When it comes to taste, spending money on things you like could be money wasted.
Our advice is to save your money for more worthwhile improvements.
2. Extending your property
Whilst extensions do add value to properties, they might not as much as you might need them to.Extensions are a massive and disruptive undertaking. They take months to complete and can cause untold upheaval. You’ll need to hire architects to design a plan, and apply for Building Regulations. Also due to the cost of living crisis, extensions that once cost homeowners £40,000, are now costing upwards of £70,000 – £80,000.
If you’re determined to go ahead, you’ll want your extension to matter. In the best case scenario, it will. But the best case scenario isn’t always the most likely. The market is turbulent and in a few months or years, a lot can change.
Our advice is to allocate your money for renovations of existing rooms. There is nothing more jarring than an outdated room in a modern house. A loft conversion can technically add up to 20% to a property’s market value.
3. Converting your rooms
We all have our own ideas of what makes the perfect property. Our ideal properties are likely to be very different. As a result, home conversions like home offices, playrooms, or pantries can have a detrimental effect on a home’s marketability.
Buyers prefer to see the potential in a room. While rooms with specific functions appeal to some people, they can ultimately reduce your number of interested buyers.
Our advice is to keep the purpose of your rooms simple, but engaging. You will appeal to a greater pool of buyers. And if you’re thinking of making improvements, simply update the worst rooms in your property. If the downstairs bathroom could use some work, add some tiles or replace the loo.
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What Home Improvements Add The Most Value To My House?
If you’re looking to sell, here are some improvements you should consider :
1. Declutter & Deep clean
If your property is about to go to market, your best hope of impressing potential buyers and securing a decent offer is by revealing its potential.
Declutter as much as possible, removing all non-essential items and storing them away. Toys, pet items, piles of magazines, shoes, coats – anything too unpleasant or personal to your family needs to be hidden away.
In this useful article, we go into great detail about the ‘big clean’ and provide some tips and pointers. One of our best tips is about decluttering – a simple four step system to maximise your property’s space:
If you decide to keep an item, make sure it has a place it looks at home. Store more sentimental items somewhere where potential buyers won’t notice them. If you don’t the items, donating is a great way to recycle the items you no longer find useful. If you don’t need the items, bin them.
Once you’ve decluttered, you can start the actual clean.
2. Fresh Paint
Your home needs to be fresh and inviting. A fresh coat of paint on tired surfaces are a cheap and effective way of making it so. Remember the skirting boards, entrances, and your front door. This is the first thing buyers notice when they look at your house. A battered and beaten front door will not leave a positive impression in a buyer’s memory of your home.
3. Apply For Planning Permission
Whilst building an extension might seem an excessive way of selling your home for more, simply applying for planning permission could be the answer you’re looking for.
Some building projects can be loss-making because they limit your number of potential buyers. People would often rather pay for the opportunity to add their own extension or conversion.
To make a greater return on investment, request for planning permission and leave everything else to the buyer.
4. Create An Attractive, Practical Outdoor Space
One of the popular improvements could be a leisure area in the back garden, like a patio or decking.
The average cost for a patio or decking is £2,235 but their projected return on investment is 4.3%. With the average UK house price currently at £281,161, a patio or decking would see another £12,090 added to your home’s market value. After the initial outlay, you could be looking at a profit of £10,000.
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Are You Selling Your Home?
It’s always useful to know the value of your largest financial asset. But if you’re thinking of selling in the near future, it pays to know your home’s true value.
We analyse the performance of every active estate agent in the UK and using basic information about your home, we provide you with a list of agents that cover your postcode and how they perform against each other.
You can compare your local estate agents by their performance in key areas of selling. Enter your property’s postcode for up to date statistics so you can choose the best agent to sell your house.
We will show you:
- Average Selling Time
- Asking Price Achieved
- How Many Properties They Have Listed
- Exclusive Offers From Agents
Estate agent fees.
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