If you’re ever wondering what you can do to reinvest in your home for when it hits in the market again, we did deep research to find out exactly what’s going to help you in the short and long term to get the best results – all from a cost analysis perspective.
Here are the top 7 ways you can invest your time and money into your home that will give you the best bang for your buck and time.
1. Decluttering and Cleaning
Whether or not you want to buy a professional maid service to do this for you, which may run you as much as $1,000 for a full clean, you can also do this yourself for free. This investment does work best for homes that are about to hit the market, for potential home owners to see. One thing you’ll notice in all the pictures we use on Home IT is that the homes are always clean and without clutter – and don’t you just love the way they look?
Experts estimate that a decluttered and clean home for open houses and pictures can add as much as 3% to the final price! That could equate to over $30,000 for a 1 Million dollar home!
2. New Lights and Hardware
Brighter rooms, clean door knobs, new faucets – it all makes a difference to potential buyers. The next time you look at an old faucet in your home just remember, replacing it is an investment! According to realtors all the small things quickly add up. Keeping your home as energy efficient as possible with nice lighting is a huge plus to modern home buyers and keeping everything looking new, even if the hardware is cheaper than it looks is still a massive selling point to buyers.
You can get a new faucet for as little as $30 and knobs and lights shouldn’t add up to more than a few hundred dollars, meanwhile you’ll likely double your investment. Not only is it relatively cheap to get an ROI on, but it shouldn’t take more than a weeks work to find and replace the items around your home that do need replacing making this a very easy upgrade.
3. Fresh Paint Jobs
If you have even more time on your hands you can go the DIY route with new paint – although if you’re not going to do it perfectly we do recommend having a professional team come in. The simple math is that freshly painted interiors and exteriors can net a 5% increase on home sales according to sources. This is good for budgeting since you won’t want to spend upwards of $10,000 to refresh your entire house if it’s worth less than $300,000. Taking the time and doing it yourself though yields an extremely high ROI of 5% for just the cost of materials. Maybe leave the outside to the professionals and do what you can on the inside to make the most of the cost/benefit analysis.
4. Curb Appeal
That home with the perfect front yard, with all the plants and well maintained yard? It’s seeing a 5-12% increase from it during sales time! It is important to note that the 5-12% comes in with the stipulation that not having a well maintained landscaping can hurt your home value significantly. Some studies have shown up to 30% in rare instances of complete negligence. Still, this is another item off the list that you can do yourself. Trimming, planting plants, cutting the grass all qualify towards your curb appeal. Making sure that all of that is as green and luscious as can be is the more difficult part that may take it from a DIY project to the hands of professionals.
5. Front Door Replacement
Going hand in hand with your curb appeal – your front door. One of the first things potential home buyers will see and touch as they enter their home. It turns out this is a major investment seeing over 185% ROI! If you’re noticing all the wear and tear on your front door show this article to your loved one for a replacement since it is an investment! You can do this one yourself if you have the strength and depending on how large your entryway is. Otherwise, get a cheap contractor it’s difficult to know when they don’t install a door properly…
All of these tips can net you over as much as a 30% increase in your home value – relatively simply! You can start by investing the time now, if not only because you’ll enjoy your home more with these all done, or make it a month long project when you’re planning on selling your house.
