10 Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home

Thinking about selling up soon? To help you get the best price, I’ve put together 10 top tips on how to increase the value of your home…

1) Ditch the front lawn: Add paving

With the average new build providing parking for just 1.5 cars, additional parking space is a big plus when it comes to selling your home. So dig up that front lawn, and have pave it over. Creating additional parking for an extra car or two can add up for £50,000 in value in expensive urban locations.

2) Convert the loft

Creating additional living space is key when it comes to increasing the value of your home. For an obvious place to start, look up. Lofts are often cavernous voids that play host to a couple of suitcases and unwanted lampshades. If your loft has lots of standing space, convert it! You can easily gain an additional bathroom and bedroom. Spend £20,000 and you should be able to add £40,000 in value.

3) Expand into the garage

It’s a surprising fact that, in the UK, 90% of garages don’t contain a car! Mostly, garages are too slim to comfortably park a car in – and opening and closing the door every time you need to pop out for milk is a right palaver. So instead, garages tend to be full of Christmas decorations and junk. The solution? Clear out the clutter and convert the garage into a sitting room, a home office, or an additional bedroom. This added living space will increase the value of your home.

4) Re-brand the basement

If you’ve got a basement beneath your home, and it’s a dark and dank, then bring it into the light and transform it into additional living space! Made sure it’s easily accessible and well-lit. Choosing light colours will help to make the space seem brighter and larger. You can have the space as an additional living room, or a bedroom. You can even have an en suite installed!

5) Ensure you have central heating

Having central heating in the property is a huge selling point. If your house doesn’t have it, get it added! Although it’ll cost £1,000 – £3,000, it’ll add as much as £5,000 in value.

6) Add a conservatory

A popular way of adding more living space to your home is to build a conservatory. But it’s important to make sure it doesn’t look like an alien bolt-on. It has to tie in with the style of your home. To really make it fit in, use the same floor tiles throughout the downstairs storey of your home, and continue them into the conservatory. This will help to tie the separate spaces together.

7) Up the kerb appeal to increase the value of your home

If you want to sell your house, the first step is to get people through the door. They won’t give your house a second look if it’s faded and untidy. Give the house a new coat of paint, clean the windows, clear out the gutters, and weed the drive. Paint the door, too! Make it look inviting.

8) Renovate the kitchen

The kitchen is widely regarded as the ‘social hub of the home.’ It’s where we cook and eat together, it’s where we talk over coffee when a friend comes round, and it’s where we host dinner parties. So it’s important to create a kitchen that’s stylish and up to date. Talk to a kitchen company, who will help you draw up some designs, and don’t forget to add a splashback.

9) Transform the bathroom

After the kitchen, the bathroom is the second most important room to decorate, when it comes to increasing the value of your home. This is due to the idea of creating relaxing, tranquil spa-like bathroom spaces in which we can de-stress and lock ourselves away from the worries of the world. If your bath, shower, sink and toilet are up to scratch, simply introduce a backdrop of stylish stone effect tiles, and add some new accessories. Copper accessories are a very trendy option, and they work well with a natural scheme.

10) Create an outdoor living space

The garden has recently become one of the most favoured parts of the home. Make sure yours is easily accessible – install a patio door, or French doors. Create a patio space where you can entertain friends and enjoy the sun, and you could add 2% to the value of the property.

So there you have it – 10 ways to increase the value of your home!