Great Ideas For Adding More Value To Your Home

If your home is in average condition there will be parts of your home that are great and other parts that could use a "face lift". The ideas in this article are just that - ideas. You will have to look for yourself where in your home you can do some minor improvements to have the place show better. The better it shows, the more likely someone will fall in love with it. The more likely it is that someone falls in love with it, the more likely you will get your asking price or at least closer to it.

The following five items are merely a road map of areas in your home you can look at. Each home is different and you may consider hiring a professional stager for a simple consultation. For a couple hundred dollars they will give you a full report of what can and should be done to make your home the most presentable it can be.

Coat of paint

If you have blemishes or marks from having had art on the walls or normal wear and tear, spend the time and/or money to put on a coat of paint. If you're not doing it yourself, you can hire a college student for relatively inexpensive. You can go white if your space allows it without feeling too sterile, but consider neutral to warm, or currently trendy colors if you are accentuating an area or dealing with large spaces. Most home improvement stores have specialists on hand to help find a set coordinating colors if you aren't naturally talented in this area.

Also, if you have dingy or old cabinetry, consider painting or whitewashing them to add to the new look. A new veneer or new doors are significantly more expensive, but can change an entire kitchen look if it's old and tired.

New fixtures

Look at your drawer and cabinet pulls, faucets and light fixtures. If any of them look old and worn, this can be a relatively inexpensive way to give your home the edge over other competing properties. Imagine you're a buyer looking at 5, 10 or more homes in a day that are all average. They're all okay, nothing too beat-up, nothing too fancy. Then they look at one that is the same, only it also has beautiful new high quality light fixtures, matching faucets and ceiling fans and cabinet knobs and pulls. For a couple hundred, maybe a thousand bucks, depending on the extent of improvements, you just made your house a "no-brainer"!

Landscaping

If your yard is plain or bare of interesting landscaping or just has no curb appeal, consider getting a little dirty. There are always people on hand at your local gardening store who can guide you based on your yards circumstances and our climate, but if you don't want to bother with all that, plants usually have tags right on them.

They'll tell you if they need mostly sun or shade, how much water or other maintenance you can expect, etc. Here are a few common low-to no-maintenance plant options that work well in the chilly Minnesota climate: Hostas, Japanese Yew, Lilacs, Bayberry, Arborvitaes, Spruce varietals, Dog Wood, and lilies just to name a few.

If you're having trouble judging your curb appeal on your own, use a trusted friend or family member to give you the outsiders perspective - remember to tell them to please be honest, not just Minnesota-nice! Or, if funds allow, ask a trusted landscaper in your area.

Minor repairs

If you've lived in your home for more than a year, you are pretty in touch with what minor repairs need to be done. As a seller, you are legally required to disclose all those items and, sometimes it's better to just do them. Whether it's a hole in a wall, ceiling or floor, or something as small as replacing a drain plug these things will add up in a perspective buyers mind as they walk through the house. They keep a mental checklist of all the "little things" that can keep them from making an offer at all. For more significant repairs, get estimates from at least two handymen and note the quality of materials they use in comparison.

Staging

Often this is the most money saving department of all! You can use all items you already own to make your home show its best. The first thing to look at is your level of clutter. You may not be a messy person if you just have a lot of things, but those things can take away from someone just seeing the house (which is what they came there for anyway!)

Consider packing up any and all items not vital to everyday living and putting it in the garage, or into storage. If your walls are just covered with photos or art, try to consolidate and neutralize. Put art/photos where you want the eyes to go, such as on high walls to show vaulted ceilings or tall windows. Remove any oversized or redundant furniture to add perceived square footage.

Be mindful to keep open spaces open maximizing the optical illusion that the square footage is larger than it really is. And any dark or constricting window coverings should be at least left open, possibly removed if they are too heavy for the room.

If you have been living in your home too long to be objective, again ask a trusted friend or family member to look at your house with their eyes and be honest and make recommendations. Also, if you have rooms that are being used for non-traditional purposes, I strongly recommend turning them back into their intended space. For example if you were using your formal dining room for office space, I recommend turning it back into a dining area if possible, or at least a neutral-use room.  

Budget estimates:

Here's a reasonable budget example using these upgrades. If you are not handy, don't have the time, or are physically restricted, add the cost of labor for that item. Overall though, you will see renovations can be made easily with little effort.

New Kitchen faucet - $100 - $200

New Bathroom faucet - $50 - $100

New Drawer/Cabinet Pulls - $25 - $200

New Lighting Fixtures - $15 - $100/each

New Paint - $100 - $300

Landscaping - $50 - $1000

These are all based on mid-range quality of NEW items, but affordable prices without too much frill or going for the "best" designer brands, etc. If you're handy on EBAY or CRAIGSLIST, you'll save even more! You can see how, on a limited budget, a handy person can really give a home a face-lift making a potential buyer fall in love!