The real estate market is full of highs and lows. But when you are ready to sell your house there is one thing that never changes—you want to get top dollar. If you are thinking about putting your home on the market, here are five ways to boost your home’s value, and three things you shouldn’t waste your time or money on.
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The Best Ways To Boost Your Home’s Value
1. Paint, Paint, Paint
One of the easiest and most cost-effective improvements you can make to your home is to paint the interior. Freshly painted rooms look clean and updated, and that means more value.
Remember, when you are selecting paint colors to stage your home for sale, you want to appeal to as many buyers as possible. So, keep things light and neutral. No one wants to “repaint that dark red wall” on the top of their to-do list when they move into a new home.
The average gallon of paint costs about $25 bucks. Even when you buy rollers, brushes, drop cloths, and painter’s tape, you can still give a room or two in your home a makeover for less than $100.
2. Makeover Your Lawn
Before a buyer sees the inside of your house, they have to make it to your front door. Sometimes, this short walk can make or break the purchase.
Curb appeal is super important when it comes to the value of your home, so you want to avoid the overgrown bushes and patchy lawns. It’s totally worth it to hire a professional lawn company for a lawn makeover and will only cost a few hundred bucks (depending on the size of your lawn).
Investing in someone with awesome tools to spend a few hours trimming and edging your lawn, manicuring your bushes and shrubs, and weed-eating your property is money well spent. You can add some extra curb appeal with the addition of shrubs and colorful plants from your local garden center that are easy to maintain.
3. Replace The Garage Door
If you replace your garage door, experts say you can get a 10x return on that investment. If you are looking for a home project with a big payoff, this is it.
“A $500 new door could add $5,000 to your selling price in the right neighborhood,” Michele Harrington—First Team Real Estate’s chief operating officer in California—told USA Today.
4. Replacing Rugs Or Worn Carpets
If you have stained or worn-out rugs and carpets in your home, this will be an immediate turn-off to buyers. If you can rip out the carpet and replace it throughout your home, that is the best-case scenario. If you can’t do it all at once, start in the room where the carpets and rugs have the most wear and tear.
5. Remodel The Bathroom/Update The Kitchen
Nothing will add value to your home quicker than remodeling the bathroom or updating the kitchen. They are the two rooms that benefit most from even the smallest of renovations, like replacing dated wallpaper or an old vanity, updating the lighting and fixtures, or adding a new tile floor. Kitchen and bathroom makeovers can improve your home’s value by thousands. On the high-end, we’re talking 50K to 100K. But even an average home can see big returns.
“Think of adding value to your home as a savings account,” says Omar A. Barragán, a New York real estate salesperson with Corcoran Baer & McIntosh. “The more you improve something, the more likely you’ll retain your investment, and hopefully, even profit from it.”
Home Updates That Don’t Add Much Value
1. A New Roof
Replacing a roof past its average life of expectancy of 30 years is actually considered maintenance, not an upgrade. If you drop thousands on a new roof, that doesn’t automatically mean a higher purchase price for your home.
However, a new roof can be a nice detail for a buyer who is on the fence. Knowing they won’t have to make that repair anytime soon can be a major plus.
2. Dated Decor Updates
You might be in love with white appliances or rose gold bathroom fixtures, but not everyone has your taste. Home decor has just as many trends as fashion, but you don’t want to be decorating your home in the latest style. You really don’t want to add pricey, trendy items to your decor with the expectation that it will increase your home’s resale value.
Some people don’t like 12×12 ceramic floor tiles. And not everyone is a fan of barn doors. When you are decorating or remodeling your home to sell and incorporating details to add value, always think neutral and classic. If the project is anything trendy (painted accent walls, mid-century light fixtures, shiplap) you won’t see any return on that investment.
3. Extensive Professional Landscaping
As important as a clean lawn with some curb appeal is, there is no need to overdo it. In fact, there’s a point where you won’t get any return on your investment. You can drop thousands of dollars on water features and pools, erect a pergola, build a bridge over a pond, and install the best swing set money can buy. But you’ll never recoup that investment.
Landscaping choices—especially backyards—are a personal thing. Some people don’t want to spend money to maintain a professionally landscaped backyard. Others might see a pool as a safety hazard.
The point is that a clean lawn and curb appeal are great investments. However, extensive professional landscaping isn’t worth it when selling your home.