Smart homeowners tend to view their house as the place where they live and as an income source through home equity. Most homeowners tend to sell their houses when their value increases to more than 50%. However, this is not always the case since the market is unstable, and you won’t know when the prices will increase.
But this doesn’t mean that you don’t have to make an effort when it comes to trying to sell it. As mentioned earlier, the market pricing is unstable. Hence, you have to be prepared when it goes up again because when that time comes, you’ll be selling your house with a significant increase.
However, you don’t have to rely on the market price to increase your home value. You can also do things yourself when it comes to increasing it, like house painting. That said, here are some tips you can do to increase your home’s reselling value.
Fix Structural Issues
Structural issues, if left unchecked, will negatively have a significant impact on your home’s value. So before you go ahead and beautify and upgrade your house, you need to fix its issues first. Not only will structural issues lower your home value, but it could also chase away potential buyers.
This is because structural issues have some underlying costs that can be even higher than your upgrades in most cases. That said, you can ask the advice of a professional when it comes to structural issues. Or you could hire them to do the work for you.
Beautify your Home
Once you have fixed all your structural issues, it’s now time to beautify your house. First, let’s start with your curb. Curb appeal is your first chance to make an impression on your buyers. A home’s exterior should be appealing and would make people walk to your front door.
If you have done pretty good landscaping, make sure it’s properly maintained. If you think it’s not very interesting, you can add some flowers to add more color or do a paint job to your front door. Once the exterior of your house looks good, it’s time to focus on the inside.
The first two rooms you have to pay attention to are your kitchen and bathroom. These two rooms significantly impact your buyers, so making sure they’re not outdated is a must. An ugly or outdated kitchen or bathroom will prevent the home from reaching its peak valuation. Adding the latest kitchen technology ideas will also help increase the value of your home.
Also, you don’t have to make significant upgrades like installing heated towel racks or marble floors. You can do a simple renovation for these rooms that will surely recoup its costs when pricing your house and even compute the price with the help of this calculator here.
Add Space
Bigger homes tend to attract more buyers and will also add significant value to your house. The most recent median for home size is $130 per square foot. If you make a move to add more space to your house, it would be an excellent way to increase its value.
If you have some walls that you tear down to add more space or a spot where another bathroom would be beneficial, it may be a good idea. However, before you go ahead and do tons of renovations, remember that renovations could cost more than the resale value.
For example, you have a bathroom that you want to upgrade with a new sink, shower, or toilet. That would have an average cost of $48,000. However, that could add value to your house for at least $29,000, which is not a pretty bad deal. Why? You may not get back all the money you spent on that renovation, but the return is 60%, which is significant.
Make your House Low-Maintenance
A lot of homebuyers nowadays tend to consider if the house is low-maintenance. Most of us are busy, and having to put up with home maintenance is too time-consuming for our busy lives. That said, replacing a significant house component that you think is already too old may calm some buyers’ fears of maintaining that part of the house.
Also, make sure that it’s easy to clean, too, as cleaning is also time-consuming. If you have a carpet that is easy to stain and hardwood floors that are old and creaky, you might want to replace those with vinyl siding and easy to clean carpets. You can also rewire to update the house’s electricity, especially if you haven’t updated the wiring for a few years now.
You can also do this with your plumbing system. Old pipework can be too much of a hassle when left unchecked. They can get furred up, make rattling noises, leaks, or worse, bursting. Ensure that you have also updated the pipework before you sell your house, as it can also add more value to it.
Cut Down Closing Costs
When you employ a real estate agent to sell your house quicker, you will be paying a commission for them. Typically, they charge between 2-3% either to the seller, or you can arrange it to be paid for by the buyer.
Usually, paying the real estate agent is at the end of the sale, which is sometimes included in the closing costs. Generally, the closing costs after paying the agent commission is 1-7%. Most of the time, only 1-3% of these costs are paid for by the seller, and the buyer will pay the rest.
However, agent commission shouldn’t be the only thing you should be worried about. There are also other costs a seller should pay: HOA costs, Transfer tax, Attorney’s fees, Credit, Escrow fees, etc. These are a pain to your pockets.
That said, these charges are situational, as they depend on the situation, especially the place the house you’re selling is located. You can cut down these costs by carefully planning all your moves, like seeing if the HOA can be negotiated with or opt to sell the house yourself instead of hiring a real estate agent.
Takeaway
Adding value to your house is pretty easy if you think about it. Painting your front door, doing a little bit of landscaping, and even remodeling your bathrooms can be done yourself. Just remember to always think of the costs first before doing some major renovations.