How to Improve Your Home and Increase Its Value At The Same Time
Our homes play such an important role on so many levels. For one thing, they are where we live. Our safe space and harbor, a place where we raise our family and build our future. But they are also huge financial investments into our future, because homes are one of the very few things that will always gain in value - provided you don’t let them just rot away. So it makes all the sense in the world to constantly invest in your home, both to make it a better place for you to live, and to add value to it when you decide to sell it on. So what are the best investments that will make your home both the most comfortable space and increase the value the most?
Rethink the Floorplan
If you’re planning major renovations, a good thing to consider is how it can be divided into smaller units. Not that you should immediately split it into multiple apartments, but the floor plan, piping, and electricity should be set up in a way that can allow for it to be turned into units in the future. In the future, turning one door into a solid wall can mean providing an independent home for your children, or renting it out, or selling it off altogether, while still keeping apart for yourself. An alternative to this is building a guesthouse that is detached or only partially attached to your house and is fully functional on its own. This is something that is so overlooked, especially at the beginning of big renovations. If you set up your home as one unit without the possibility of division, you might be kicking yourself in the rear a few years down the line when you have to tear down walls and redo the entire plumbing system to accommodate for changes.
Utilize the Entire Space
We all keep a lot of things we don’t need. The minimalism movement has really shown us how much of our space goes to just store things we really don’t need to keep. And when you do a good cleanout, you might realize you have entire rooms that you’ve been using as a cellar, attic or storage room that you can utilize in other ways. A dusty, creepy attic can easily be transformed into a paradise room for your teen child or a whole additional floor of the house if you have the ceiling height. Having rooms in your house that you don’t use isn’t just robbing you of the space you could be using.
But they are also more likely to deteriorate because you don’t notice the mold behind the stacked-up boxes or the cracks in the floor. So even if you are just storing things, make sure the rooms are kept to a high standard and don’t just ignore them because you don’t frequent them.
Pave the Way
Your home shouldn’t only be kept tidy from the inside. The outward appearance of your home gives the first impression to both guests and potential buyers. You might think that a job of tarmac and block paving of your driveway will disrupt your life for a long time, but the experts that can fix up your driveway in Birmingham tell us that it can be done with minimal disruption to your life. Besides the obvious benefits of giving an overall polished look and a place to park your car, you can use a paved driveway for many things, like a sports court for the kids when the car isn’t there.
Connect the House with the Outdoors
There’s a big difference between just having a backyard and actually making it a part of the home. The easiest way to add value is to connect it to your kitchen, especially if you live in a sunny place. Add a patio that connects to the kitchen with a big double door and essentially double the size of your kitchen by turning the outdoor space into a dining area. You can go the extra mile by covering the outdoor space and perhaps encasing it in glass to make it usable even during the colder times. This will not only look great, but it will significantly increase the value, as a common complaint for properties today is a small kitchen.
Fix the Roof
Obviously, you don’t want to live under a leaky roof. However, you might not notice, or you might be used to having some small leaks when there’s a heavy fall. This won’t go unnoticed by potential buyers or any experts they bring along to inspect the property. Fixing up - or even completely re-tiling - your roof isn’t actually that expensive and doesn’t take long, but it might be a big minus for potential buyers that will pass over your house at the very thought that they will have to fix the roof. In addition, something like a new and unkept roof will signal to potential buyers that this house has been well-maintained throughout its life and that all other potential problems are also managed.
Flooring
This can go in a few different directions. On one hand, if you have good hardwood floors that are well maintained, it will in many cases add value to your home. But, on the other hand, many young people who are looking to buy homes don’t care all that much for the glamour of hardwood floors and would much rather have something that is easily maintained and that looks sleek and modern. In this case, you should go with whatever you would like to live with for the rest of your stay in the home, and whichever option you choose, make sure it’s high quality and well maintained, because changing the floors is a hell of a job that nobody wants to do when moving into a new space.
No matter how long you plan to stay in a space and whether you plan to ever sell it, you want to invest in the home you’re living in, because it will not only increase in worth, but will make your everyday life more comfortable and enjoyable. Whether you want to leave a legacy for your children to enjoy or just want a space that will look good in pictures you post online - now you know the best ways to invest.
