Six Cheap (or Free) Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home
Owning a home is an investment and will become quite profitable over time. While owning a home will never give you greater returns from other investments, such as putting money into the stock market, the combination of building equity in a large asset that is reliably valued and not pouring money into the black hole known as “rent” is quite profitable. powerful.
This is reason enough to want to maximize the value of your home: every extra dollar your home is worth is equity you magically own. However, most methods that increase the value of a home require an initial investment. A new kitchen or adding a bedroom will add value to your home, but you’ll need to find the money for it first.
But there are ways to increase the value of your home that don’t require a lot of money—or any money at all.
Cleanliness and order
Cleaning is practically free, and it cannot be underestimated how much more valuable a home is when it is neat and tidy. Deep cleaning your home – inside and out – will not only make it look newer and allow potential buyers to see themselves living there, but a dirty, unkempt home will look like an expensive project even if there’s nothing wrong with it. In fact, deep cleaning your home can add over $3,700 to the sale price . And decluttering—getting rid of all the accumulated clutter and making your home feel clean and organized—can bring in more than $6,500.
It’s also important to fix minor problems throughout your home. If you’ve been ignoring the little things—sticky doors, loose hinges, broken light switches, dents in drywall—potential buyers or appraisers will see these as signs of larger problems and will price your home accordingly. After all, if you can’t fix a broken kitchen cabinet door, why would anyone assume you keep your roof or furnace in good condition?
You should also take an objective look at the caulking around windows, in the bathroom and kitchen, at the grout between tiles, and at the condition of the carpets and floors. Replacing sealant is very cheap and a complete DIY, cleaning grout is pretty much a hard sell, and cleaning your hardwood floors with something that will make them shine will make your home look newer, and new homes will command higher rates.
Dye
Paint is always considered the cheapest home renovation. A fresh coat of paint on the inside can increase the value of your home by $5,000 , while painting the outside can increase the value of your home by over $7,500 . If you do the work yourself, your cost will be in the hundreds of dollars , making it one of the most cost-effective ways to increase the value of your home.
Light
The lighting situation in your home – both in terms of natural sunlight and artificial lighting inside – has a huge impact on the value of your home. Studies have shown that the more direct sunlight a home receives, the more expensive it is worth. And letting in more of this light—and complementing it with a variety of interior light sources—can make your home larger, cleaner, and more livable, all of which translates into higher value. Updating your light fixtures and adding window treatments that maximize natural light is an effective strategy, but it may cost you a few dollars. But just making sure your window coverings are clean and functional, and that all your lighting fixtures are working and have fresh bulbs at the appropriate temperature and brightness, will make an impact.
Updated equipment
People notice details. If they walk into a home and find a lot of missing, dirty, or broken drawer handles, doorknobs, or wall panels, they’ll likely start mentally subtracting an amount from the price they’re willing to pay for your home. These items are fairly easy and cheap to replace or repair, and they make a huge difference (plus it will make your home more enjoyable for you while you’re still living there).
And while you’re at it, why not upgrade your shower head to something spa-quality for under $100 and consider replacing your old, grungy faucets with shiny new ones . These changes aren’t free, but they won’t cost you much either, and you can DIY these projects quite easily.
Simple Landscaping
Landscaping and curb appeal can have a huge impact on the value of your home, increasing it by as much as 20% . Of course, this is professional landscape design, which costs a lot of money. But if your yard, patio or deck has become a disaster, it will likely negatively impact your home’s value—and even a simple outdoor area will increase your home’s value if it shows that it’s been well maintained.
Your first step is to simply clean up the mess: power washing, trash removal, and sweeping will make a huge difference. Giving your front door a pop of color and adding cheap solar lights can add curb appeal to your home for next to no cost. Mowing the grass and trimming hedges, trees or other vegetation so that it looks like you’ve done something intentional rather than a losing battle with nature is also a 100% free landscaping step that will increase the value of your home.
If you have the space, you can also build a deck from wood pallets , which can usually be found for free at construction sites, large hardware stores, or just about any other business that uses a loading dock. People also often advertise free pallets on Craigslist, Facebook and other platforms to save themselves the hassle of dealing with them. This deck won’t last decades, but it can make your backyard a cozy, cohesive space rather than an alien landscape where joy goes to die.
Flexible rooms
The final way to add value to your home is to reconsider how you use the space. Rooms that serve more than one purpose, sometimes called “flex rooms,” offer people options. If a potential buyer needs a home office, it could be a flex room, but if they need an extra bedroom, that could be it, too. As a result, flex rooms increase the value of a home . So if you have a guest bedroom, consider moving it and adding a desk so it can serve as a home office or playroom. Suddenly you have space in your home for a home office without spending a penny on an extension and it will cost more.