How to Add Value to Your Home

Homeowners take a lot of pride in their homes. They want it to look inviting for guests when they entertain and feel comfortable for the whole family to enjoy in their day-to-day lives. As the weeks and years pass, a home becomes emotionally valuable to you, but what about the actual monetary value? When you decide to eventually sell, how far will your return on investment reach?

From landscaping the front yard to improve curb appeal to installing energy-efficient products like appliances and solar panels, consider these home restoration projects to enhance your living space and add value to your home. 

1. Give Your Home Some Curb Appeal

Give your home some curb appeal that looks attractive from the street. Curb appeal makes a great first impression to prospective buyers and neighbors. Work on the exterior of your home, focusing on outdoor living areas and the front entrance. Make sure your lawn is landscaped nicely, trimming hedges and lining pathways with bulbs. Repaint the front door in a bold color and replace its hardware. If you have a fence with a charming gated arbor, give it a fresh coat of paint, mend broken pickets and be sure to update the gate hardware, too. 

2. Let Landscaping Mature

When it comes to landscaping, plan something that will develop nicely over time. Plant a shade tree or two, which are great at keeping the AC turned low and reducing cooling costs during warmer months. If you are not in a hurry to sell your home any time soon, allow your landscape to mature over time. 

A mature landscape will establish properly and provide a better habitat for wildlife and pollinators. Instead of aiming for just any shrub or colorful flower that catches your eye at the garden center, be sure to inquire about and choose native plant varieties for a more green-friendly yard. Growing plants native to the region can also be much easier to maintain, offering drought-tolerant qualities that require less water, resulting in better water conservation. 

3. Address the Interior Appearance

Once you tackle the exterior and boost your home’s curb appeal, address the appearance of the interior spaces. Focus mainly on the kitchen and bathrooms, as these areas will add the most value to your home. Renovating an outdated kitchen or bathroom has the highest potential to increase value.    

Update the Kitchen

For starters, give your kitchen an upgrade with kitchen renovation products such as stone countertops, custom cabinets and high-quality appliances. Despite the period style of any home, you can install energy-efficient appliances (more on that later) that add value to your home and help you save on your monthly energy and water bills. 

Replace a yellowing stained kitchen sink with something fresher, along with a new faucet set. Get rid of that outdated microwave and replace it with a built-in stainless steel microwave above the oven. Install a polished granite or quartz countertop that can lighten up a small kitchen space. There are numerous kitchen updates you can make! 

Update the Bathroom

A moisture-prone area, bathrooms can benefit from a renovation, too. Install some new flooring and a few updated lighting fixtures. Replace an outdated vanity, including the faucet set and plumbing fixtures. Add some new tile flooring to give a more modern look.

For a much more upscale bathroom, you can even install more luxurious touches such as heated flooring and custom cabinets. At a minimum, peel off dated wallpaper and give it a fresh coat of paint. You can also add a new tile shower surround or vanity countertop. 

4. Install Energy-Efficient Appliances and Lighting

As mentioned, there are several ways to update your kitchen and bathroom to cut down on energy costs. But it doesn’t stop in these areas. In fact, there are many areas in the home that can take advantage of energy-efficient products.  

As a whole, energy-efficient features can significantly add value to your home, especially depending on the area of the country and climate in which you live. For regions with extreme heat or cold, like the Southern states or Northeast, installing some energy-efficient major appliances like a furnace and air conditioning units can make a huge impact.  

It also pays to install double-pane windows. If you have an older period home, find drafty areas that could benefit from high-quality insulation. If you have an unfinished attic, this space can lose a lot of heat, increasing your electric bill in the colder months. 

Replace incandescents with LED lighting in recessed fixtures and more. LED lighting has come a long way from its blue-hued glow and can now give off a warmer temperature that is not as harsh. 

Energy Star-rated products offer great energy-saving lighting and appliances–and even windows. You can also inquire with a certified energy auditor or ask your local utility company to provide a free energy audit and show you ways to decrease the energy usage in your home. As a homeowner, you get the added benefit of reducing your energy bills, while also adding value to your home should you ever decide to sell. 

Plus, there are numerous state incentives available for homeowners who choose to install energy-efficient products. If you want to add value to a home you’re planning to purchase, there are energy-efficient mortgages (EEMs) that you can borrow and take on additional debt to cover both the home purchase and energy-efficient upgrades. According to Energy.gov, EEMs typically offer lower mortgage rates to increase purchasing power. 

If you have the budget and proper sunlight exposure, install solar panels on the roof.  

In a recent 2020 survey on sustainability, the National Association of Realtors said that 40 percent of realtors found solar panels to increase the perceived property value. However, it should be noted that you should only do this if you plan to stay in your home longer. Don’t add solar panels if you’re simply looking to increase value for a quick sale.  

5. Paint Walls, Trim and More

One of the easiest, most effective ways to add value to your home is to apply a fresh coat of paint. Paint can truly spruce up any space, too–whether it’s intended for a relaxing bedroom or the exterior siding. It can also clean up any dingy, yellow trim around doorways and windows, as well as crown molding and bases.

Keep in mind, however, that not everyone has the same tastes. Be sure to choose paint colors that are muted and neutral, which appeal to a broader audience. On the contrary, a bold color is recommended for the front door to create an unforgettable curb appeal. The best part about this home improvement step is that it’s an easy DIY project. Pick up a gallon of paint for roughly $25, along with rollers, brushes, painter’s tape and drop cloths to protect furniture.

6. Create More Space and Get Organized

One of the easiest ways you can add value to your home is by making rooms appear larger than they are. And the easiest way to do this is by decluttering and getting organized. A clutter-free space can make a home look larger, which is always more attractive to potential homebuyers. 

In the kitchen, make the most of cabinets and pantries with versatile, sliding shelves and drawer accessories. Place a rotating lazy Susan in corners to make the most of those hard to reach areas. In bathrooms, mount some shelving as a place to store stacked towels and washcloths. Maintain cosmetics and toiletries within a drawer organizer and keep the everyday clutter stored away in a medicine cabinet. Address bedroom closets as well, adding shoe racks and cubby spaces to accommodate sweaters and bed linens. 

7. Replace Wall-to-Wall Carpets and Rugs

Wall-to-wall carpeting has mostly gone out of style, especially in the common areas for a home. Replace any outdated, stained carpet with a more attractive flooring that adds value to your home, such as hardwood flooring. If you already have a fairly new flooring, make sure any area rugs are clean and don’t detract from the space. As a whole, wall-to-wall carpets are harder to maintain than most flooring, so do away with them if you can.

Your home’s indoor air quality can be jeopardized by carpet, too. Older carpets can cause asthmatic symptoms and potentially be hiding contaminants and allergens. And one of the easiest ways to improve a home’s indoor air quality is to remove carpeting and replace it with something more environmentally friendly and natural with a hard surface, like hardwoods or laminates.   

8. Make Your Home Low Maintenance

Speaking of low maintenance, many homebuyers want a turnkey experience when they purchase a home. This means you need to consider challenging areas and come up with ways to minimize the constant maintenance. For instance, you can add value to your home by replacing high-maintenance wood siding with a vinyl siding. In fact, there are many vinyl sidings that resemble the natural beauty of hand-hewn planks and more. If you have an older furnace or water heater, replace it with a newer one to create more energy-efficient heating. 

9. Schedule a Home Inspection

A home inspection can steer you in the right direction to discover how you can make a home low maintenance. Besides the aesthetically pleasing aspects of a home, you need to ensure the structure is sound, too. Schedule professionals to inspect the roofing, pests and termites and electrical components. Have an inspector check for water damages and pinpoint any leaks. You want to ensure these tucked away areas are still in decent shape, maintained and repaired, if necessary, to avoid any issues in the future that could negatively affect your home’s value.  

10. Fix Smaller Broken Items

While you need an inspection on the main framework of a home, don’t neglect the little things. Take a walk around the exterior and interior of your home, making note of any smaller broken items. On their own, these smaller items may not seem like such a big deal, but collectively, it can make a home appear neglected and in disarray. Look for broken shutters or cracked window panes. If you have the means, repair a cracked sidewalk to boost curb appeal. Repair a leaky faucet in the bathroom or kitchen and patch up any sealer around the bathtub or tiles.

11. Hire a Professional

If you feel stuck and don’t know where to begin, you can always hire a professional. If you are serious about selling your home and want to add value, a real estate agent can also point you in the right direction. Many realtors offer advice as a courtesy, since they eventually receive a percentage of your selling price and take a share of the overall cut. 

However, if you plan to stay a while and need some design advice, reach out to an interior designer to give your home a once-over. Interior designers offer consultations typically charged by the hour, but within that hour, they can tour your home and offer many wonderful ideas to get you started. 

Some ideas for home improvements, such as painting and furniture placement, may be easy DIY weekend projects you can tackle. But for others that consist of moving walls and structural changes, they can also provide you extra services or the name of a professional who can get the jobs done efficiently.    

How Do You Plan to Add Value to Your Home?

With these tips and tricks, you should be able to add value to your home in no time. For homeowners on a budget, seek out more affordable DIY tasks like painting walls and other minor repairs. Keep a rolling list of to-do items and strike them off one by one, bootstrapping your renovations. 

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