Even the best home upgrades may not make the cut with buyers if you ignore where you live, the neighbourhood you represent and the essential difference between comfort-driven upgrades and prerequisite upgrades for your area. However, if you do your homework well and consult a professional home designer, you are most likely to hit the jackpot, both with the appraiser and the buyer community. Let us take a look at some of the best upgrades to increase your home’s value.
Attic bedroom
Attic bedrooms are absolute heart winners. They can pique buyer interest even if the attic space is not too generous. Ideally, you should paint the slanted ceiling in a lighter tone of the overall paint-colour used. A bright accent wall or stonework can set the mood perfectly.
Use panelling cleverly. Placed horizontally, panelling creates an impression of a broader room. Similarly, vertical panelling overemphasises the height of a room.
Experts recommend painting the ceiling beams in dark colours. This draws the eye towards the ceilings, letting a prospective buyer enjoy the whole expanse of the attic.
Overall, an attic bedroom is an appraiser’s delight.
Energy-efficient changes
Tackling the energy crisis is of paramount importance today. Buyers are entranced by a house that fulfils energy objectives.
Proper insulation, high indoor air quality, green-certifications, renewable energy initiatives (like solar roofs), and clean and green measures like living walls are all very welcome ideas.
You need to give your buyer a whiff that your home upgrades are bent towards saving his money. In this regard, home applications with high energy ratings are also preferred by the buyer community.
Frontage and backyard
Excellent curb appeal is another prerequisite. Manicured lawns and spic-n-span sidewalks are a buyer’s delight. You can consult landscape designers to find out what upgrades sell a house in your area. The idea is to embellish your garden in sync with your neighbour’s front yard.
Buyers are ready to pay more if they see that a home camouflages beautifully with the neighbourhood.
Colourful plants, weed-removal machines and proper irrigation system goes a long way in increasing the price sticker of your home.
Kitchens and bathrooms
It is a near dead-heat between the two. Till about 5 years ago, buyers inspecting homes sought kitchen space first. Today, they are bending towards the bath space. At any rate, if you have given due attention to both the areas, you are least likely to disappoint a prospective buyer.
Prudently selected countertops (high-end granite or quartz countertops if budget is not a constraint), laminate flooring, lighting fixtures that do not leave shadows, are among the top considerations for kitchen.
Well-compartmentalised bathrooms with an eye towards ambience are easily approved by buyers. Jetted soaking tubs, cubicles with spray showers, and diffused lights are top billers.
Upgrade windows
Years ago, you could be forgiven for believing that windows were meant only for fresh air. Today, it is our duty to be informed about all that a window can do for our home.
Apart from being a tool of energy-efficiency (double-glazed windows), it is also a smart counterfoil against UV radiation.
You can try state-of-art window variations that can be connected with an iPhone or a Smartphone application. This way, your window can change its opacity from completely opaque to translucent to fully transparent.
Give buyers enough reasons to fall in love with your home
Buyers do not get an adrenaline rush by belittling your upgrade effort. If anything, even they want to fall in love with the homes they visit. After all, they are looking at their future cocoons. Get the right home upgrade and you will hit the right chord in their heart.
What’s your favourite home upgrade to increase a home’s value?