Renovating your home can be fun to dream about, but not as easy to execute. The cost of a renovation project can be high, and somehow seems to increase from the proposed budget no matter how fastidious the home owner.
Knowing that jumping into any renovation project will be a time and money commitment, it’s best to choose renovations that will increase the overall value of a home.
Instead of throwing money at appliances or furnishings which will date and go out of style, focus on some basic elements below that will have a lasting impact on your home’s value.
Natural Light
One of the top reasons a home appears undesirable for someone entering for the first time is that it is dark. Homes with less natural light tend to have lower selling points no matter how great the location or the actual physical space.
Even homes in cities and suburbs can be opened up to encourage light to enter. Skylights can be a great creative way to add natural light, as can widening windows, and adding windows on all walls.
Replacing a back or side door with a set of sliding glass doors can also work wonders, as can eliminated obstacles to natural light, which brings us to the next creative renovation idea.
Open Plan Living
Stop thinking about what to add, and start looking at what can be taken away in order to dramatically increase the value of a home.
Opening up a house to eliminate small, unnecessary rooms and creating a larger area, especially the kitchen and living areas, yields a high return on renovation investment. Focus on drawing natural light throughout the house, and creating social spaces.
Outdoor Living
Even the tiniest studio apartments see a massive increase in value when there is some kind of outdoor space. For example, a wooden deck on the back of a house will see well over an 80% return on investment in most cases.
If the property already has existing outdoor spaces such as a backyard, make it liveable by adding features such as permanent seating, plants, trees, grass and storage. Outdoor projects are extremely affordable and have great DIY appeal.
Home Office
Today many people work from home at least one or two days of the week. Adding a home office to your property shows a buyer the potential of the space to be both a private residence and professional quarters.
It is not as simple as adding a desk to a room, try to incorporate shelving, electrical capacity for technological equipment and of course that natural light mentioned before.
Bathrooms
Of course a fully renovated bathroom will yield up to 150% ROI but getting a bit more creative, it is also beneficial to a home’s value to add bathrooms.
Use creative spaces like old coat closets, cupboards under the stairs, or even bedroom closets to add another half bath.
Kitchen
The kitchen, as the renovation magazines will tell you, is the heart of the home. The kitchen tends to be a focal point, and should be treated as one of the top selling points in a property.
Here is also where it makes sense to spend a bit more money on renewing cabinets and replacing counter tops, but only so long as the replacements are made of durable, high quality materials which truly add value to the home.