Many people renovate their homes before selling in hopes of getting more money. But some renovations will give you more return on your investment than others. Let’s take a look at a few of the best home improvements to increase the value of your home and some of the worst that may not be worth the effort.
#1 Best: Asphalt Roof Replacement
Replacing the roof on your home, especially if it’s older, can give you the biggest return on investment of all the improvements on this list. No one wants to buy a house with an old roof because it’s almost guaranteed that they’ll have to replace it within a year or two, if not sooner.
With a new roof, potential buyers are guaranteed that the roof will last them for many years to come and it’s definitely something they are willing to pay extra for.
#2 Worst: Home Office Renovation
While renovating your home office might make work easier and more enjoyable for you, a potential buyer might not feel the same way or even have a use for it at all.
Unfortunately, new buyers like to make a lot of those decisions for themselves, and if your home’s next buyer doesn’t work from home, that home office won’t do them much good. Depending on how much you renovate, this project could cost quite a bit and that is very unlikely to add much, if any, to the resale value.
#3 Best: New Front Door
It might seem like a small thing but a new front door can add quite a bit of value to your home when you go to sell. Since the front door is one of the first things people see, it’s often their first impression of the home and sets the stage for how much they’re willing to pay.
It also adds to the curb appeal and allows you to improve the security of your home when you upgrade with newer locks and smart devices.
#4 Worst: Backyard Patio
A new backyard patio might give your backyard a certain ambiance, but it won’t do much to increase the resale value of your home. Because backyards aren’t usually visible from the front of the house, they don’t add to curb appeal and patios are pretty common so most potential buyers aren’t likely to pay more for them.
That being said, if you upgrade the whole backyard with an impressive new porch or deck, those can add a bit to your resale value. Unfortunately, the patio just doesn’t carry as much weight as those more popular home improvements.
#5 Best: Attic Insulation
Now let’s go from something that’s clearly visible to something that most people are unlikely to see. Unlike your front door or your roof, no one is likely to take a close look at your attic insulation, but that doesn’t mean it can’t deliver great returns.
Attic insulation can ensure the whole house stays warm, and homebuyers are looking for those keywords that show you’ve put money into some of those unexciting, but really valuable improvements. When they don’t have to pay extra money for an inefficient home, they’re more likely to spend more on the list prices. What’s more, insulation also helps keep pests out of your home which will increase the resale value as well. Not many people are willing to pay more for a house with a bug or rodent problem.
#6 Worst: Master Bedroom Addition
While a larger master bedroom can be nice, it can also be a very expensive project that is unlikely to return the cost. Most potential buyers aren’t too interested in a larger bedroom unless the original is very small.
If you want to make the master bedroom larger, do it for you and only if you’re planning on staying in the home for more than a year or two. Otherwise, you’ll likely not make much of the money back that you spent on the renovation.
#7 Best: Bedroom Conversion
Instead of expanding your master bedroom, if you’re planning to sell soon, your money might be better spent making an attic or a room in the basement into another bedroom.
Not only does the conversion of another room into a bedroom increase resale value, but it also adds more valuable square footage. This is an especially smart upgrade for larger families who are willing to spend more so everyone can have a bedroom of their own.
A bedroom conversion may cost a bit of money, but it’s likely to be less expensive than a true addition and is more likely to deliver a higher return.
#8 Worst: Additional Bathroom
Adding another bathroom is another home improvement that is unlikely to increase the resale value of your home, unless your home has far more bedrooms than it does bathrooms.
If you have a 4 or 5-bedroom home and only one bathroom, another bathroom could increase the value but adding another bathroom to a 2-bedroom, 1-bath house won’t do much for you. If you want to update a bathroom and see that ROI, we’d suggest upgrading an existing bathroom over building another one.
#9 Best: Fireplace
Installing a new fireplace can quickly increase the resale value of your home especially if you’re upgrading from an old fireplace to a new, energy-efficient one. Lots of people want fireplaces in their homes even if it’s only for aesthetic purposes. And they are willing to pay more for them, especially when they can just flip a switch to turn on that ambiance.
Spending some money to install a new fireplace can quickly increase the sale value of your home and return the money you spent on the project.
#10 Worst: Window Replacement
This is a tricky one because it seems like replacing your home’s windows would be a great home improvement. But, that’s not always the case.
Expanding the windows or adding more to increase light, fixing a window with a crack, or vastly improving the insulation will add to the resale value. But just replacing a window with a one-to-one replacement won’t do much for you. Buyers like to hear it, but they aren’t likely to pay much for it.
Home improvements can boost your home’s resale value, but it’s important to know which ones are really worth the time and financial investment. If you’re unsure what to do and what to avoid before listing your home, contact one of our trusted real estate agents at BlueWest Properties. We can set up an appointment to discuss your home, your selling goals, and what it may or may not take to achieve them.