Owning a home is an investment, and a pretty good one over time. Although owning a house will never give you a better return on other investments like putting your money into the stock market, the combination of building equity in a large asset that reliably appreciates and not pouring money into the black hole known as “rent” is pretty potent.
That’s reason enough to want to boost your home’s value as much as possible—every extra dollar your home is worth is equity you magically own. Most of the techniques that increase home value require up-front investment, however. A new kitchen or the addition of a bedroom will make your house more valuable, but you have to come up with the money for them first.
But there are ways to nudge your home value up that don’t require much money—or any money at all.
Clean and declutter
Cleaning is basically free, and you can’t underestimate how much more valuable a home appears when it’s neat and tidy. Not only will a deep clean of your home—inside and out—make it look newer and make it easier for potential buyers to see themselves living there, a dirty, grungy house looks like an expensive project even if there’s nothing wrong with it. In fact, a deep-cleaning of your house can add more than $US3,700 to the sale price. And decluttering—putting away all the junk you’ve accumulated and giving your home a clean, organized feel—can add more than $US6,500.
Repairing minor problems throughout the home is also essential. If you’ve been ignoring small things—sticky doors, loose hinges, non-functioning light switches, dents in the drywall—potential buyers or appraisers will see those as signs of bigger problems, and value your home accordingly. After all, if you can’t be bothered to fix a broken kitchen cabinet door, why would anyone assume you’ve kept your roof or furnace in good repair?
You should also take an objective look at the caulk around your windows and in your bathroom and kitchen, the grout between your tiles, and the condition of your carpets and floors. Re-caulking is super cheap and totally DIY, cleaning grout is pretty much a sweat equity transaction, and cleaning your hardwood floors with a product that shines them up will make your home seem newer—and newer homes get higher bids.
Paint
Paint is always celebrated as the cheapest home renovation around. A fresh coat of paint inside can boost your home value by $US5,000, and painting the exterior of your home can add more than $US7,500 to your home’s value. If you DIY the job your costs will be in the hundreds of dollars, making this one of the most cost-effective ways to boost your home’s value.
Light
The light situation in your house—both in terms of natural sunlight and the artificial light inside—has a dramatic effect on your home’s value. Studies have shown that the more direct sunlight a house receives, the more the house is worth. And letting more of that light in—and augmenting it with plenty of interior light sources—can make your home feel larger, cleaner, and more livable, all of which translate into a higher value. Refreshing your light fixtures and adding window treatments that maximize natural light is an effective strategy but can cost you a few bucks. But simply making sure that your window treatments are clean and functional and all your light fixtures work and have fresh bulbs of the appropriate temperature and brightness will have an impact.
Refreshed hardware
People notice details. If they walk into a house and there are numerous missing, dirty, or broken drawer pulls, door handles, or wall plates, they will probably start mentally deducting from the price they’d be willing to pay for your home. Replacing or repairing these items is pretty easy and cheap, and makes a world of difference (plus it will make your home more pleasant for you while you’re still living there).
And while you’re at it, why not change your shower head to something spa-level for less than $US100, and consider replacing your old, grungy faucets with sparkling new ones. Those changes aren’t free, but they won’t break the bank, either, and you can DIY these projects pretty easily.
Simple landscaping
Landscaping and curb appeal can have a huge impact on your home’s value, increasing it by as much as 20%. That’s professional landscaping, of course, which costs a fair bit of money. But if your yard, patio, or deck is a disaster it’s probably affecting your home’s value negatively—and even a bare-bones outdoor area will help your home’s value if it communicates that it’s been well-maintained.
Your first step is to just clean things up: A power wash, trash disposal, and sweep-up will make a huge difference. Giving your front door a bright color and adding some cheap solar lights can make your home feel more inviting for next to nothing. Mowing grass and trimming hedges, trees, or other vegetation so it looks like something you did on purpose instead of a losing battle against nature is also a 100% free landscaping step that will boost your home’s value.
If you have the space, you can also construct a deck from wood pallets, which you can usually find for free at construction sites, big-box hardware stores, or almost any other business that uses a loading dock. People also often advertise free pallets on Craigslist, Facebook, and other platforms to save themselves the trouble of dealing with them. This deck won’t last decades, but it can make your backyard seem like a cozy and put-together space instead of an alien landscape where joy goes to die.
Flex rooms
One final way to jolt your home’s value is to reconsider how you’re using the space. Rooms that serve more than one purpose, sometimes called “flex rooms,” offer options to people. If a potential buyer wants a home office, a flex room can be that—but if they want a spare bedroom, it can be that, too. Flex rooms boost home value as a result. So if you have a guest bedroom, consider moving the layout around and adding a desk so it could double as a home office, or a game room. Suddenly your home offers a home office space without spending a dime on an addition, and be worth more.
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