With the current housing market fluctuating rapidly, it’s important to know what your house is worth and what, specifically, is adding value to your home presently. Whether you choose to stay in your current home or move, knowing the worth of your home, and the things that affect that worth, is vital to being a successful homeowner. While these factors are subject to change, we have established a list of home additions and attributes that add value to your home in order to make your decisions as a homeowner more informed.

1) Screened-In Porch & Deck

As we’ve noted in previous blogs, adding a screened porch to your home can increase your home’s value between 70-84%. Not only does a screened porch aid in your home’s value, but so does having a wooden deck alongside your screened porch, provided there is sufficient furniture and decor space. HGTV predicts that roughly 90% of the sunk costs of installing a wooden patio/deck can be recovered through the resale value of your home, and that number only increases if you have a screened-in porch or other adjoining outdoor addition. Worth noting, this addition’s recoup rate increases to nearly 100% within Western states, but drops to roughly 83% in Southern states.

Image by: Precision Siding & More

2) Landscaping

Not only does the addition of landscaping around your property look more aesthetically pleasing, it also adds value to your home. HGTV predicts that nearly 100% of all costs associated with landscaping will be recouped within the resale value of your home. Landscaping can include, but is not limited to: the addition of flowers and plants, pavers, stones, and in-ground watering systems. The most important thing to consider when adding landscaping is the curb-side appearance of said additions - potential buyers should perceive the landscaping as low-maintenance and appealing in order to gain the highest return on investment (ROI).

3) Minor Bathroom Updates

Changing some of the aspects of your bathroom(s) can make a large difference on your home’s value. Simple, cost-effective things like changing or deep-cleaning the existing flooring, adding a fresh coat of paint to the walls, and/or replacing the existing fixtures increase your home value greatly and push the recoup rate of sunk costs to over 100%, according to HGTV. While this change requires the most attention to current design and home improvement trends, it is also one of the most advantageous changes that can be made to increase your home value.

4) Minor Kitchen Updates

Similarly to small bathroom changes and/or updates, HGTV also showed that minor changes to your kitchen can increase your sunk cost recoup rate to roughly 99%, while increasing your overall home value. Some small changes/attributes of a sufficient kitchen remodel include: refacing cabinets, upgrading some older fixtures of the kitchen, resealing the countertops and flooring, and adding some newer technology where applicable. Minor kitchen updates, similar to landscaping, should aim to improve the overall appearance and ease-of-use, not make potential buyers feel as though the kitchen is too high-maintenance.

5) Exterior Home Improvements

By far the cheapest and easiest way to increase your home’s value, while recouping roughly 96% of sunk costs (according to HGTV) is changing and improving the exterior of your home. A new coat of paint on your front door; a cleaned, freshly stained front porch; new siding or a deep-cleaning of existing siding; matching accents and decor in the entryway. The list is endless of how you can better the exterior of your home, and it can be done for a reasonable price and relatively quickly.

References

• HGTV

• Zillow

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