Brokers Reveal Their Secrets: This Is What Will Boost Your Home Value
When it comes to selling a home, sometimes it’s the little things that count. Here, we’re going to look at some of the things that brokers say that you can do to boost the value of your home. Take a look at this.
Create More Space
Kristen Wellins is a senior manager in a real estate broker firm. She says that one of the most important aspects of a house is the amount of space that it provides. Opening up the kitchen and the lounge creates a sense of flow and helps to impress potential buyers. What’s more, it can all be done for just a few hundred dollars. Things like providing a kitchen island and knocking through walls from the kitchen to dining room all help to create huge value.
Reba Haas, a real estate expert from Seattle, says that kitchen islands can generate enormous value-added, providing much-needed kitchen storage space to busy families. A kitchen island, she says, might swing it in your favor.
Prune And Landscape
Nothing looks worse than tangled trees and overgrown bushes and dark interiors that risk becoming moldy.
Roger Voisinet, a real estate veteran from Charlottesville, says that people often forget about the state of their trees, preferring instead to focus on other aspects of their home before selling, like the kitchen and the entryway. He points to a 2007 survey of more than 2000 home sellers which found that a small $500 investment in landscaping often yielded a return four times that when it came to ultimately selling the house. Before calling the movers, it’s a good idea to invest heavily in landscaping – one of the few home improvements that can actually add more value than it costs to do.
Don’t Put Off Care And Maintenance
Many sellers dive straight in and buy the fancy kitchen or bathroom at enormous expense. But, according to Robert Bailey, a real estate expert, they are wrongly directing their energies. Instead, the broker says, homeowners should divert their attention to things like fixing leaky windows, repairing storm doors, weeding flower beds, getting rid of rusty gutters and sorting out plumbing leaks. It’s problems like these that buyers really care about, especially those who fork out the money to have their new home surveyed.
Jessica Gopalakrishnan, a broker with HomeGain, says that just a small investment in maintenance can lead to huge payoffs in terms of the final sale price. Repairs often cost in the region of just a couple of hundred dollars, she says, which can leave your home in tip top condition.
Be Eco-Friendly
Once you’ve done the maintenance, the next step, according to Voisinet, is to go green. Old heating systems tend to be very inefficient, thanks to the fact that they are gas powered. New ones, powered by solar panels are a lot better. Voisinet says that solar technology can reduce the energy cost of heating your water by 40 percent and that systems cost around $7,000, after tax rebates and green incentives. Ultimately, this will allow the new owners to save more than 80 percent on their water heating bills, pushing up the value of your home.