The house market at the moment is possibly the craziest it’s ever been, and I’m seeing first hand from family and friends just how fast houses are being snapped up. For us, we bought out new build last year, but waited 10 months for it to be built and finally moved in in April just gone. In that year that has passed, we’ve seen houses sky rocket in price, and we’ve also seen those who simply can’t afford to move invest their money in home improvements instead.
It makes sense: if you’ve been itching to move, but just can’t save up enough in today’s economy, it can work out best to use what you have to improve your current home. Then potentially, in a few years to come, your house will have much more value to it, leaving you in an excellent place for selling. Especially if you’ve kept on top of clutter, and gave you home a minimalistic finish.
For most home-owners, us included even though we are in a new build, it means figuring out ways to increase the value of your home. The first obvious ones include converting a loft or adding an extension. Of course, these are amazing, if you have such big funds for these huge projects. They can take a long time to do, require planning permissions, and cause a lot of disruption to your living. For many people, these tasks are simply not worth the cost, time and hassle involved. With the rise of people working from home, anything that allows a comfortable working space at home is always going to be attractive for a Home Buyer In Houston.
The point of today’s post is to highlight that there are infact other methods of improving your home, to add significant value to your house, without having to jump straight to loft conversion or house extension. Of course, if you can afford to do a conversion or extension, it will significantly add value. It might be that your lost doesn’t need a full refurbishment, or, could it work out cheaper to convert a garage? Look into quotes and see if it is do-able.
I was inspired to look into DIY trends for house value by the findings by Brand Hire Station, who have covered the DIY trends which instantly add value to your home. If you take a look at their write up, you’ll see they highlight many smaller house improvements that you can do yourself. Yes, nothing can be done for free so to speak, as improvements do come at costs, but you don’t always need to call in the tradesmen or experts.
Brand Hire Station spoke to two experts, who shared their insights. One of these is Daisy from Hewitt Adams, who suggested that garden improvements have lots of potential to add value to a home. Many people have converted sheds, or purchased wooden out houses in the gardens and used them specifically for gyms or offices. With the rise of people working from home, anything that allows a comfortable working space at home is always going to be attractive for buyers.
They also spoke with George from Helmores Estate Agent, who pointed out that “simply maintaining a clear, clutter-free garden with a tidy lawn can make a huge difference without costing much”. Potential buyers like a blank canvas a lot of the time, and don’t want to inherit someone else’s personal taste that is hard to change. This tends to be the way with gardens – if someone has gotten rid of the lawn and paved the whole space, added walls, ponds and after additions which aren’t to everyone’s tastes, it could be a turn-off. However, a well-kept and groomed space which acts as a canvas for potential buyers is the best way forward.
The article goes to on discuss the finer details which can make all the difference, too. This lies within your kitchen and bathroom finishes, such as upgrading your worktops to quartz or granite, instead of vinyl. When buyers are looking round a home, or when an estate agent is valuing a property, it will help to have a high spec, premium finish to both kitchens and bathroom. It’s very attractive for buyers to know they don’t have to move in and start saving £20k aside for new kitchen and bathrooms!
Another point is curb appeal, and this is where windows and doors come into it. You may be surprised how much nicer your home looks with new versions of both. If you house is very old and the brick is starting to bring down the exterior appeal of the house, you could also look into rendering costs. It’s become a huge trend to render your house, usually in cream shades, to make them look much fresher and newer.
The content above shows some handy tips on how to improve your home, to add value to your home. As you’ll see, a downstairs toilet has made it’s way on the list, which is something that more and more people are seeking when looking for a new home. These have become much more in demand for older people, who don’t particularly want to go down the route of a bungalow, but know they want a forever home, and need the practicality of a downstairs toilet.
It’s interesting to see that lighter looking homes seem to be more attractive to buyers than darker homes. If you can, it may be worth investing in lighter paint colours or wallpaper, and even for the flooring, too. Lighter shades and hues across floors and walls, along with mirrors and windows will create the illusion for a bigger, spacious house, which will always be a plus point when valuing your home.
For us personally, we’re thinking of adding a small extension to our kitchen and dining room, to make a small ‘family room’ space. We have a lovely kitchen which leads to an open plan dining room, but what we feel will add value and be more attractive to potential buyers is if the space has an extra room for a small sofa and play space for our little girl. It could also be used as a space for a desk, for WFH if we didn’t want to dedicate the space room to an office. Either way, it would open up our kitchen and diner and make the room have more versatility for a growing family home.
If there’s any DIY trends you have known to have sky rocketed the value of your home, please do feel free to share in the comments!
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