Things To Improve The Value of Your Home

Many variables exist when deciding the value of a house. Appraisers may not provide a straight answer as to what adds to the value of a house. Obviously, the bigger, nicer, and more expensive the house is, the more value it has. However, here are some options that typically add more value to your house but cost less to add.

Remember things that you might think would add value and tend to cost more may not add value according to the appraiser.

Add Square Footage: Squeeze any extra square footage out of every area possible, extend an exterior wall out a couple of feet. This is simple square footage and costs less to add, unless by moving a wall, you are making the roof more complicated.

Upgrades: Upgrade lights, plumbing fixtures, flooring, cabinets, etc. to styles that look nicer but are considered on the lower end of pricing.

Add 3rd Car Garage: Add a 3rd car garage by extending the side wall out about 12 feet.

Side Entry Garage: A side entry garage makes a house look bigger and has a nicer curb appeal. The extra cost is between $1500 to $2000.

Slightly Under Build: Build a house that is the same size but slightly less nice than the other houses in the neighborhood. When appraisals are done, the first item appraisers look at is the size of the house and then they find comparable houses with that same size.

Curb Appeal: Think about the curb appeal, that is the appearance of the house from the street. Add little decorative items such as dental molding, vinyl railing, lattice, hanging plants etc.

Property Size: Be willing to pick odd shaped property with more square footage. Usually, odd shaped property is same cost as normal shaped property, but you usually get more square footage. Appraisers take the size of the property more into account than the shape of the property, unless it unuseable property.

Simple Shaped House: Design your house to have less jogs and angles, especially on the back and sides of your house. Every jog and angle adds to the cost of building the house, but doesn’t necessarily add to the value of the house. I think being able to afford more square footage in a house would help the value more than expensive designing, unless your talking about $300,000 + homes.

Simple Roof Design: An extravagant roof design does not always make for more value. The same as the house shape, make it simpler to add more square footage.

Buy Late Fall-Winter: Possibly buy your property late fall or winter. As fall rolls around the property and housing market tend to slow down. This is a good time to pick up some property at a reasonable price. Many times developers need cash flow to cover developing expenses and are willing to sell property cheaper than during the spring and summer months.

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