6 Home Improvement Projects Can Increase Home Value Before Selling

Owning a home is a major accomplishment, but also requires quite a bit of work to keep it orderly and maintained. If you’re looking to sell your home, check out these six tips to bump up the curb appeal, appearance, and overall market value. Putting in a little effort to increase home value can go a long way to increasing equity when the time comes for you to sell your home or refinance.

6 Ways to Increase Home Value Before Selling a Home

Landscaping and Yard Maintenance

First impressions are everything. When a potential home buyer comes to see your house, the first snap judgement they make is off of the overall appearance of your home.

If your lawn is lush, and your plants are well maintained, the prospective home buyer will probably think more highly of the home. It might even be the memory sticking point of their visit.

Conversely, if the lawn is brown and overgrown, and you have weeds sprouting in front of your home, the home buyer may have a lower impression of your home before even stepping foot inside. The same goes for dead spots in your yard. If your pets tend to damage your lawn either by digging or eating plants, work on re-seeding holes, and watering your yard to help it show the best it can before you have people tour your home. An appealing front and back yard raises curb appeal and overall appreciation of the home.

Paint

A new coat of paint in or outside of your house goes a long way. Take a walk through your home and find areas that are chipping or wearing down. Adding a new coat of paint to those areas can turn those rooms from looking used to looking new and clean. If you’ve decided to use a bold color palette in one of your rooms, think about how a typical buyer might react to the paint scheme or artwork. If it might be over the top, paint the room with a neutral color so the prospective home buyer can visualize their own palette and belongings inside. Painting a room can usually be done in a day, and is a large step toward increasing your home’s overall value.

Patio/Deck

Here in the Pacific Northwest, people like to soak up the sun when it’s out. Make sure your home has a patio or deck where potential buyers can visualize themselves hosting an outdoor party or simply just sitting outside enjoying the sunrise/sunset. From building wood decks, to adding pavers, there are many ways to define outdoor spaces. Once you have decided how you will showcase an outdoor living situation, furnish it with outdoor furniture. Even just adding a few chairs and a table will help the potential buyer understand how to use that outside space, and decks and patios often increase home value on the bottom line.

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Update hardware

Hardware is one of the least expensive parts of a house, yet makes such a huge impact when it’s outdated. Take a look at your cabinet pulls and faucets and ask yourself if you would see them in a house that is new. If you decide it’s time to update the hardware, take a trip to a hardware store and choose hardware that has clean lines and is simple. The potential homeowner may change the cabinet pulls anyway, but modernizing the overall look of the kitchen and bathroom can help shift a home buyers decision to buy. This can be a smart way to increase home value at a very small monetary cost and time investment.

Replace carpet

If your carpet is old, worn, dirty or dated, changing it out for hardwood laminate or tile flooring can increase home value and give prospective buyers a “wow!” moment. With allergies to dust, and overall importance of cleanliness of the home, tile and hardwood is a logical choice for main floor flooring. Additionally, tile and hardwood are easier to clean. A simple sweep will clean hardwood and a mop will clean tile. With carpet you may worry about spills and stains, and having to regularly shampoo your carpet.

Storage space

Most people have more stuff than they realize. Clear your home of clutter and store rarely used items off site so that prospective home buyers don’t worry that your home lacks adequate storage space. You can also quickly remodel spaces to add additional storage; for example, if your home does not have a linen closet upstairs, build some extra shelving in your laundry room that can act as linen storage. Or if your home does not have a coat closet, add some hooks and a bench by the front door so people can hang their coats. When looking for a new home, storage space is a top priority for some buyers.