Renovating your home can seem costly, and it can seem pointless since you are moving out. As a potential seller, you are trying to get more than you paid out of the house so you can put that into your next home purchase. A few small renovations can increase the value much more than the cost of the renovation, hence the reason for the abundance of home renovation and redesign shows that are on HGTV. We are going to share the best updates to do on your home to increase the value and the average cost of the update.
While renovating your house for a higher price tag is no longer the best-kept secret, the best strategy may still be a secret. The goal is to spend less and gets more. The question is, where is your money best spent? These options vary depending on the size of the space you are renovating, the quality of the materials, and the amount of labor involved. You might know a friend that knows a thing or two. Connections are endless and should be taken advantage of when it comes to renovating your house.
Landscaping
Your yard is the first thing a potential buyer sees. They may even be out driving for sale signs, and your yard could have them asking their realtor for a showing. Cleaning up your yard is very cost-effective as well. The average homeowner spends about $3,000.00 on their yard for landscaping and $1,500 for a designer. Sod is an average of $1.18-$1.43 a square foot. You can get plants from your local nursery or grocery store for $3.00-$15.00 and use them for added color to your yard. If you plan to do this work on your own, be sure you are considering the amount of sunlight your home is getting a day and for how long. You do not want to waste your money on plants that could die fairly quickly.
Deck, Patio, or Porch Addition
While addressing the house’s exterior, you may want to consider updating or adding a deck or patio to your home. If you live in a small house, adding a deck can serve the home as an additional entertaining area. A 16×20 Ft. deck can range from $4,000 – $11,000 depending on your materials and labor. A single 2×4 on average can be anywhere from $6.48 for an 8-foot board to $17.65 for a cedar 8-foot board. Be sure you also know the housing standard for width between each railing. Inspectors can ding you on this as it is hazardous to small children. This approximately raises the value of your house by $10,000.
Adding or Finishing Your Fence
Another excellent way to add value to your home is finishing a fenced back yard. More often than not, residential areas have a half or even 75% fenced back yard. In Washington, according to the World Population Review, 62.7% of the state owns a dog. Meaning more than half of the people potentially viewing your home own a dog, or they have decided not to consider your home without a fully fenced backyard. A completely new fence costs an average of $2,500 and could bring in more people to view your house and make offers more competitive when selling your home.
Painting
You want to be slightly uplifting spaces of your house. Complete updates of the kitchen and bathroom can be very costly, and you get back about 80% of what you spent on upgrading.
A little sprucing up with paint can give the feel of it being clean and new without a whole remake. The average gallon of paint costs $40.00, which can help develop or change a room’s entire feel. Painting that pink closet can be the difference between an offer or not. Houses, just like anything else, have trends. So, if your wall’s color has not been updated in 10 years, it may be time to see the trending style and change the color of various rooms to support the trend.
Painting the exterior of your house can be expensive when hiring out labor for the job, but this can be a very cost-efficient way to update your home’s overall look. This project’s cost range is about $0.50-$3.50 a square foot to hire a painter. In the end, most homeowners spend about $3,000 overall to have the exterior of their home painted. This has a return of 55% when you go to sell your home!
Miscellaneous Things You Can Do to Update Your Home
There are many small things you can do to update your home without an extreme renovation price tag. Finding ways to add more storage space is fantastic for potential buyers. We can accumulate so many keepsakes over our lives that storing it all can be challenging. This could be as easy as shelving in the garage or spare room closet. If a room is quite large and the closet is small, you could expand the closet space to hold more storage.
A pantry area in the home is a must but can easily be overlooked by potential buyers. Adding an area around the kitchen that could serve as a food storage area is a great way to add value to your home. This could be as easy and using a storage closet near the kitchen and transforming it into a pantry with shelves and lighting. But you may also have to consider renovating the kitchen to support the pantry additions, which can have significant returns for the money you put into it.
There are endless ways to update your home. It all depends on your budget, your time allowance in overseeing or managing these projects, and the size of your house. We also caution anyone in completing home renovations themselves without proper expertise. These projects can become more costly and are dangerous if you do not have adequate experience. These are just some of the best updates to do on your home to increase the value along with the average cost of updates.
If you just want to quickly get out from under your home without the time needed to make renovations, contact us at https://www.real-vantage.com/contact-us/