If you’ve been thinking about how you can increase your property value but aren’t sure where to start, this is the article for you. Whether you want to raise your value before you sell or simply want to improve your property for your future, there are plenty of options you can look into.
- Add a bedroom
For those wanting to add significant value to the home, increasing the number of bedrooms available is the best way to do it. With a few different ways to do this, we would recommend either –
- Extending your house to add more space to build a bedroom
- Converting an unused garage or conservatory
- Taking the largest room and split it into two.
If you’re looking to add another bedroom to increase your property value, there are a couple of things you need to know before you begin. Splitting one room into two can be a cheaper decision, but if you’re not careful, it can result in your value decreasing. Do some measuring first, and make sure that the two rooms will meet the regulated size. You should also consider what would benefit your house more, two smaller bedrooms or one large one? If your home isn’t particularly suitable for a family, for example, two small rooms may not be as popular as a larger one.
- Deal with any structural issues
Three of the most severe issues that will decrease a houses’ value is subsidence, dampness, or Japanese knotweed. If your property suffers from these, your value will drop steeply as your buyer will need to pay for the reparations – as well as this, some houses with severe cases of subsidence or damp can be unmortgageable, making them harder to sell.
Repairing these issues is not a cheap or easy fix, which is why it affects your value so much when you sell. If you’re in a position to resolve them, it will dramatically increase your property value, allowing you to sell for a much higher price.
- Create an office space
Since the start of the pandemic, working from home has become standard for millions of us and is likely to be the same case for the coming months. Due to this, properties with a designated space to work from home in are becoming more and more desirable, with it being regularly searched for on Rightmove and is a must for many buyers.
You can add an office space to your home in a few ways, but the most popular is by taking a spare room and redesigning it into a working space. Using a small, unused bedroom is the simplest way to do this. Some homeowners are worried about transforming a bedroom into an office space, but you can show that the room can have multiple purposes to reach a broader market of buyers; perfect for anyone who has been asking themselves, “how can I sell my house fast?”.
- Update the garden
Gardens have always been a very popular choice when buying a house, but they have become even more in demand in the past year. Outside areas are impressively versatile, and no matter how much space you’ve got, you can make the most of it to help raise your house value.
Some houses have grassy sections in the garden, and the best way to make this as attractive as possible is to maintain it well, keep it cut and healthy, and add complementary features, such as flowerpots, vegetable patches, or even a greenhouse. A shed can also help to boost the value as it provides additional storage.
If you have more of a courtyard area at home, creating a space that offers seating will make it more inviting. Over the last year, some homeowners have started to build their own bars in courtyards, which will help to build your value and encourage your potential viewers to put in an offer.
- Renovate the bathrooms
Redoing the bathrooms in your house can make a huge difference when you’re looking to increase property value. A total renovation will achieve the most significant growth, but you can work around the budget you’ve got and still see your value increase. When looking to redo a bathroom, it’s best to have both a bath and shower, whether you choose to have them as separate facilities or as a shower over a bath, as this will mean you can appeal to any viewer as most of them will have a preference for one or the other. White suites are the best option as they will match all colour schemes and are timeless, compared to peachy, pink, or avocado green suites that were big in the ’80s but are no longer desirable.
Another popular choice if you’re not in the position to completely update your bathroom is to work on some key points that will make a big difference when you enter the room. Updating any old-fashioned tiling is a good option and can help make the room look much more spacious, especially if you choose very large tiles instead of the smaller ones often found in bathrooms. Providing extra storage is also a good idea, whether you decide to box in the sink and create cupboards underneath or look at floating cabinets – storage is very desirable and will help keep the bathroom more organised, which will appeal to any buyer.
A minimal change that can make all the difference is introducing plants into the bathroom. These provide beauty, colour, and air-cleansing properties, making any potential viewer keen to see more!
- Redecorate throughout the house
Before you sell your house, most people will suggest that you redecorate it first. The good thing about looking to decorate when you sell is that you can make it happen on any budget, and it will almost always help you sell faster.
While simple redecoration won’t particularly affect your value, it will encourage your viewers to place an offer and can result in them submitting a slightly higher offer than they would have done originally.
For those who are working with a bigger budget and are looking to make some significant changes to sell, you should always plan and outline your spending. The key is to ensure that you’re not paying out more than you will increase your value by when you sell, so you can benefit when you achieve your sale!
