Install A Rack For Pots And Pans
If you want to increase your home's value, it's of the utmost importance that you reduce clutter wherever possible, especially in frequently-used spaces like your kitchen. For this, use an overhead pot and pan rack. It can instantly make your space look more cohesive and earn you some extra money when you go to sell.
Redo Your Kitchen Counters
Those old laminate or tile counters are likely bringing down your home's appeal and its potential selling point. Luckily, installing granite or quartz counters is easy and it can quickly improve not only the look, but also the value of your place.
Play Up Your Island
Decorating and meticulously designing your kitchen island has a huge impact on how others see your home. Keep your kitchen island clear of clutter so buyers can envision its uses, but also play it up with comfortable counter stools, candles, or a stylish fruit bowl.
Resurface Your Cabinets
Don’t panic if you don't have money in your budget to replace your cabinets, you can still upgrade your kitchen by resurfacing them. Just because something looks worn or beaten down doesn't mean it needs to be replaced. All you have to do is remove the cabinet doors and cover them with something like wood veneer or laminate.
Go For Tuxedo Cabinets
While having uniform kitchen cabinetry might seem like a selling point, opting for light upper cabinetry and dark lower cabinets can actually help your home sell for a premium. Research goes so far as to say that homes with so-called tuxedo cabinetry fetched $1,500 more than anticipated on average.
Swap Out Your Cabinet Hardware
It's so easy to remove and replace cabinet hardware that even beginners can do it themselves. It's a cost-effective method of giving a kitchen a fresh, contemporary look. If you have standard-sized cabinets and a small space, you can do a do-it-yourself version for less than $1,000.
Choose Energy-Efficient Appliances
An investment in new energy-efficient appliances will not only make your kitchen look better but will save you money on your electric bills. And for new homeowners that are already shelling out a ton of cash, it's a big selling point to know you’ll save on the other end.
Refresh Your Faucet
Simply adding a new faucet in your kitchen can make all the difference when it comes to the value of your space. Updating the sink with a modern-looking faucet will add that ‘wow' factor to any kitchen. A minor kitchen remodel will enhance the overall look and feel of your kitchen without breaking the bank.
Add Some Light In The Kitchen
Adding under-the-counter lights will really brighten up your kitchen space. Luckily, all it takes is a few stick-up LED lights to achieve the look you want, so this is an affordable and easy way to increase your home's value.
Swap Out Old Light Fixtures
Ask any real estate agent or designer, and they'll tell you that those cheap home supply store light fixtures won't earn you a major payday when you go to sell your house. Upgrade your lighting, however, and you'll be upgrading that check from a potential buyer, too. The good news? Fixtures come in literally every price range.
Install Recessed Lighting
Want to make every room in your home look brighter, more beautiful, and more expensive? The answer is simple: recessed lighting. Recessed lightning is recommended in every main room of your house, but if your on a budget, the kitchen is the best room to invest in.
Add Smart Technology
If you want to make your home more valuable, then it's time to start thinking smart. Make smart enhancements like your thermostat, lighting, keypad door locks, fire detectors, and security cameras. If all else is the same between several homes that buyers are looking for, your home would win with a smart boost.
Replace Face Plates And Wall Switches
Those metallic light switch covers may have once gone with your home's décor, but now they just look dated and it's time for them to go. Fortunately, it only costs a few dollars and takes mere seconds to replace cheap plastic covers with more elegant wooden, ceramic, or metal ones with better aesthetic appeal.
Repaint Your Walls In A Neutral Hue
It may only take a few hours to complete, but adding a fresh coat of paint to a room can completely transform your space for the better. Go for neutral hues. Warm neutrals are often seen as a fresh canvas and considered to be both welcoming and safe color options.
Reglaze Your Bathtub
An updated bathroom is buyers' biggest turn-on, and an outdated bathroom is their biggest turn-off. But don’t worry, if you have an old bathtub, it doesn't have to be replaced with a pricey claw-foot model to add value to your home; reglazing a tub is an equally effective home upgrade that's much more affordable.
Re-Grout Your Shower Tiles
Re-grouting your bathroom tile can make your bathroom shine again in a pinch. Nobody wants to pull back a shower curtain and see black grime. Re-grouting tiles is an easy, small project that can make tiled walls feel like new.
Go Bold With Your Bathroom Color
While neutrals may serve you well in the rest of the house, some major contrast in the bathroom could make your home more valuable in the long run. Try repainting the rest of your bathroom a contrasting color to really make everything sparkle. So what color should you use for your bathroom walls? Well, to maximise your home's sale price, blue is best.
Remove Your Carpeting
Modern home buyers are turned off by carpeting nowadays. Laying down a shiny new wood floor easily pays for itself several times over. And if you're worried that authentic flooring is going to cost you an arm and a leg, there are always good alternatives to traditional wood floors, such as laminated wood.
Lay LVP Flooring
LVP flooring can bring in the warmth and coveted look of hardwood floors with the added safety of its durability promise, particularly in wet areas like the bathroom or kitchen. When considering LVP, lean into those resembling wood grain and opt for more brown versus gray tones, as this will provide warmth into your space and ensure a timeless look.
Refinish Your Floors
Throughout the rest of your home, you'll want to spend some money on upgrading floors if they're not in good condition. There are various financial levels of renovations you can do with flooring; if they're hardwood, you have the options of simply sanding and buffing, staining, overlaying, without replacing completely.
Install Ductless Mini-Splits
Nobody loves coming home to an overheated house on those hot summer days. Luckily, even if you don't have existing ductwork, you can easily make your home cooler by installing ductless mini-splits to keep your space a pleasant temperature all year long. As they’re DIY, you’ll save energy (and therefore money) which is increasingly desirable nowadays.
Replace Your Old Windows
Want to make your home quieter, lower your energy bills, and add value when it comes time to sell? Then swap out those old, drafty windows for a new set of double-pane windows. Homes with listing descriptions that mention double-pane windows can sell a week faster than similar homes and for 1% more than expected, according research.
Add Climate Change-Friendly Features
Depending on where you live, you'll want to think about how climate change could affect your home in the future. Listings that mention hurricane or storm shutters can sell for 1.4% more than similar homes. Homes on stilts or piers, built to defend against flooding, can sell for 1.1% more, according to real estate professionals.
Finish Up Any Minor Repairs Around The House
You may think those little repairs around the house are a waste of time, but if don't attend to them promptly, you could end up losing a lot of money. Leaky faucets, sheetrock damage, cracked plaster, broken windows, missing screens, and dented door jambs are good places to start.
Upgrade Your Entryway
Your entryway can be a major selling point when it comes to potential buyers. Does the lock work? Is it an inviting entry? Is there chipping paint on the front door? Broken glass? If so, fix them yourself before listing your property for sale. This will make the entryway a showplace and set a positive impression from the start.
Refresh Your Artwork
Sometimes, increasing your home's value is as simple as swapping out that dated family portrait for something a little fresher. Home furnishings and artwork make a huge impact on the feeling and value that your house gives. Rearrange or replace wall hangings with fresh new artwork.
Tear Down Fabric Pieces
While heavy drapery, upholstered furniture, and a never-ending sea of throw pillows used to be the height of interior fashion, all of that clutter isn't going to earn you any extra money nowadays. Remove excess pillows, throws, cushions, and drapes. Clean lines - no matter what your house style - are never out of style.
Stage A “Bonus Room”
Your laundry room - if you're lucky enough to have one - could be the key to adding serious value to your home. If you have a space in the laundry room or other small area, stage it as a room with multiple uses, like an arts and crafts room or a gardening centre. This turns a wasted space into an extra ‘luxurious' space with very little money.
Create A Mudroom
You don't need an actual mudroom to have a mudroom. Configuring a back entryway is an easy way to add some serious value to your home in a hurry. Add a bench with hooks for coats and perhaps baskets underneath for shoes, hats, mittens, etc., in an area that can become a makeshift mudroom.
Enhance Your Closet Storage Space
A little closet storage goes a long way when it comes to increasing your home's worth. And fortunately, you don't need to spend thousands to add major value. Add shelving or two rows of hangers to small closets to make it feel custom and add storage space.
Add Attic Insulation
Homebuyers are put off by a drafty house or one that loses the cool air that its air conditioners are pumping. Fortunately, adding a little insulation to your attic can significantly raise the value of your house now and in the future. Insulation keeps heat from escaping the house, which lowers energy costs.
Finish Your Basement
Transforming that unfinished space in your basement could be the key to selling your home for a premium price. An unfinished basement can be a gold mine. By making your basement seem like an extra room (instead of empty space), you will help potential buyers envision how they can utilize this extra space.
Build A Deck
If you’re eager to turn your outdoor space into one that will significantly boost your home’s value, building a deck is a great place to start. Who doesn’t want a nice outdoor sitting area in their garden? The best part is, if you’re careful with it, building a wooden deck yourself will only cost you around $200.
Build A Patio
However, if the cost of building out a deck is too much for you, patios are a wonderful, more affordable option. All you need is a few slabs of concrete, which can be bought for $100, and you have yourself a patio. This is one of the cheapest DIY tricks you can do to increase your home’s value.
Create An Outdoor Seating Area
Set up a deck or porch as an outdoor living area with comfy cushions on furniture, an outdoor rug, a grill, etc. This expands the square footage of your home in a buyer's mind, which means you’ll fetch more for your home once sold.
