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How To Maximize the Value of Your Property Before Selling

Are you thinking about selling your property but disagree with your valuation? Many homeowners have been in this situation, and sometimes it is challenging to agree with. However, not all hope is lost, as there is an abundance of different methods you can implement that can maximize the potential sale value of your home.

Improve Visual Aesthetics

The easiest and most impactful thing you can do to add value of your home is to improve the visual aesthetics of your property inside and out. Curb appeal plays a critical role in a home’s value. It is how the house looks from the street, compared with its neighboring properties, and can make a big impact on a potential buyer’s perception of the home.

Therefore, guaranteeing you have a well-maintained landscape and front yard is essential. To boost the value of your home, consider sprucing up your outdoors with plants, cleaning your driveway, walkway, garage, and even the entire front of your house.

Moving to the inside, renovating each room will undoubtedly maximize its potential sale value. But this will cost a significant amount. Because of this, you will want to follow the guidance provided by the National Association of Realtors. According to their 2019 Remodelling Impact Report, renovating a kitchen and bathroom will offer you the highest return on investment (ROI).

The findings suggest that the cost recovery for a kitchen upgrade is 59 percent, and for a bathroom, 50 percent. Additionally, both suggest that completing these projects help close a sale, making them excellent investments.

Install Energy Conservation Features

The above outlines a superb way of increasing home value, but installing energy conservation features is another easy thing you can do before selling your home. By getting these installed on your property, the next homeowner can benefit in a multitude of ways, including environmental and economical.

Today, homeowners have never been so invested in reducing monthly utility costs and decreasing the effects they have on climate change. Therefore, energy conservation features installed within a home are the future. It is also expected to increase the overall value of your home and helps it appeal to environmentally conscious buyers. Some of the features you should consider installing are below:

  • Double-paned windows – On the Remodelling Impact Report, the NAR suggests installing new windows on a property can recover 57 to 71 percent of its cost once sold. Whether you install vinyl or wood windows plays a significant role in how much value will be added to a house. As shown, vinyl windows dominate the cost recovery metric.
  • LED lighting – A more inexpensive upgrade is LED lighting. These are expected to increase a property’s value by upwards of three percent. When combining LED lighting with smart features, you can expect this to increase further. Considering the inexpensive cost of these lights, it is more than worth upgrading to these before selling your home.
  • Energy-efficient appliances – You can also introduce energy-efficient appliances into your home. LED lighting and windows are the superior options, but appliances such as cookers, dishwashers, and laundry equipment, will undoubtedly impress the appraiser and potential buyers.
  • Solar panels – Soon, it will be a mandatory requirement to attach solar panels to a house. Currently, California has actioned this by mandating solar panels for all new builds from 2020 and onwards. Apart from this, it is also estimated to increase the value of your home dramatically. According to CNBC, this figure is around 4.1% of the total property value.
The above sounds costly, but incentives open much more possibilities. Homeowners can apply for an Energy-Efficient Mortgage (EEM), which provides significantly better rates than traditional bank mortgages when making their home more “green”. With a variety of incentive programs, you could reduce the cost of utilities and dramatically enhance the value of your property.

Consider Smart Technology

Combining energy conservation features and smart technology is another home improvement that adds value. Technology is the future, and homeowners are starting to embrace the benefits you can receive by implementing it within your daily lives. They offer optimal convenience because they are easy to control, are accessible for everyone of all ages, and some devices can enhance the overall safety of the occupants inside the home.

Smart technology can provide advantages to many people, making your home more valuable. The type of smart features vary, but some examples are locks, doorbells, CCTV cameras, thermostats, automatic shades, home security systems, smoke detectors, speakers, and lights.

Each device can be considered “useful,” depending on an individual’s requirements. But you will need to be practical about installing them. For example, if you currently live in a a neighborhood with a relatively high crime rate, ensuring the next homeowner is safe with an innovative smart security system and locks will undoubtedly provide them peace of mind.

Add More Square Footage

A more significant project you can begin to add value to your home is adding square footage. Although the figure will fluctuate from state to state, Statista suggests a median price per square foot in the US is $122.12. By becoming knowledgeable on this figure, you can quickly determine how much you can increase home value by adding an extension.

But you will want to approach this strategically. The safest route is to add a master suite, attic conversion, or basement. These have all been classified as “safe” interior projects that have proven to increase value. To understand how much these investments can increase your property’s value, see the below:

  • Master suite – 50% of the total project value
  • Attic conversion – 56% of the total project value
  • Basement conversion – 64% of the total project value

All the above figures come from the 2019 Remodelling Impact Report, which the NAR and NARI created.

After reading the above, you should have a more comprehensive idea of maximizing your property’s potential sales value. We have discussed four home improvements that can add value. Each has its price point, timeframe, and required amount of work, but all have the same outcome of increasing the value of your home.

Meet with our OpenAiRE team and receive a consultation to increase your home’s value into something more desirable. 

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