Six Key Ways of Adding Value to your Home

If you’re thinking about selling your property soon, you’re going to want to get the best price possible. It’s easy to increase your house’s value by throwing money at it, building an extension or installing a new bathroom. However there are lots of other things you can do which won’t cost the earth but which will make a whole world of difference.

Sort out Kerb Appeal

First impressions are vitally important when you’re selling a house. Before tackling the big jobs like painting the exterior, do the cheap and easy jobs too. Get on the gardening gloves and weed the garden, paint the fence, jetwash the drive, put some hanging baskets up. Move any rubbish or children’s toys out of sight. Do everything you can to ensure people walk through the front door with an already favourable impression of your home.

Brighten Things Up

A house which is light feels bigger, brighter and more attractive. Remove net curtains or blinds which are blocking out natural light, pull curtains back, move furniture which is blocking windows or doors. If things are still looking dingy, get some new lightbulbs which are both energy efficient and will greatly increase light levels in the home. If you have some cash to spend, think about putting skylights in, or paint rooms a lighter shade.

Think About Floors

Carpets which look worse for wear are never going to sell a house. That doesn’t necessarily mean replacing them though. Dirty carpets can be brought back to life by a deep clean by a professional carpet cleaning company. Once your carpets are cleaned, keep kids and pets away from then and implement a “shoes off” policy to keep them looking their best. If you decide to replace, choose a carpet which is decent quality and neutral in colour.

Decorate

There’s no need to paint everything magnolia, but you’re going to get the best offer by making your home into a blank canvas. If you have brightly coloured feature walls or have every room painted a different bright colour, think about toning things down a little. All this will cost is a bit of paint and a bit more time and effort. If you have very dark colours on the wall, it might take several coats of paint to make things brighter and lighter.

Insulation

Make sure your home is warm and welcoming rather than cold and draughty. Spend some money on insulation rolls for the loft, and block up any draughty cracks around windows and doors. Even if you can’t sell your house right away, you’ll still benefit from lower energy bills in the interim.

New bathroom

This is often the cheapest of the “big” jobs in the house. Keep costs to a minimum by retaining the configuration of your bathroom suite, or only buying items which it is essential to replace. Choose neutral colours, rip out any bathroom or old-fashioned tiles and add a shower over the bath to give buyers an extra washing option.