If you’re planning on eventually selling your home, or if you just like the idea of owning a home that’s worth more, you might be interested in specific home upgrades that have the potential to boost the selling price of your home.
Not every upgrade to your home is going to boost its value, and not every potential upgrade is going to be appealing to you personally. But if you can find upgrades that meet both criteria, you’ll have a clear path forward.
First, a Caveat
Before we dig into actual upgrades that can boost the selling price of your home, we need to issue a caveat. Home upgrades are often qualified in terms of their return on investment (ROI), which is a measure of how much home value the upgrade adds compared to how much you spend to complete it. It’s very rare to see ROI of 100 percent or higher, which means you’ll almost never boost the value of your home by more than you spend on the upgrades to do it.
With this in mind, you need to find some other value from the upgrades. Usually, this means benefiting from the upgrade for a few years before you ultimately sell the home.
Home Upgrades to Boost the Selling Price of Your House
These are some of the best upgrades to boost the selling price of your home:
- A fireplace or insert. A fireplace or a fireplace insert can instantly beautify a room of your house, usually the living room, and provide you with supplemental heating for as long as you remain in the house. Fireplaces have been a somewhat timeless addition to houses, and it’s likely that they’ll remain popular well into the future; even if you hold on to your house for 25 years, you’ll benefit from a higher selling price when you go to sell it.
- A kitchen facelift. Renovating a kitchen is both expensive and inconvenient, especially if you’ll be without access to a kitchen for several days. However, you can make the kitchen much more inviting and attractive by giving it a simple facelift. Replacing the countertops, resurfacing the cabinets, and replacing the appliances can make your kitchen look new, yet cost you a lot less than a full-scale kitchen remodel.
- A bathroom renovation. Bathroom remodeling also tends to pay off, since this is arguably one of the most important rooms of the house. A bathroom renovation is even more valuable if your bathroom is currently old, outdated, or lacking certain functionality. If you don’t need to redo the plumbing, you can likely do this quite affordably, and you’ll have plenty of aesthetically distinct options to choose from.
- Replacement windows. The ROI of replacement windows isn’t just about increasing the appeal of the home; it’s also about improving its insulative capacity, so you can save money on your utility bills. If your windows are currently old or particularly leaky, replacing them could save you hundreds, or even thousands of dollars on heating and cooling, depending on how long you continue living in the house. Plus, obviously, having new windows is a great way to boost the selling price of your home.
- A finished attic (or basement). Do you have an attic or a basement that’s currently going mostly unused? Consider finishing it. Finishing an extra space like an attic or a basement is appealing to home buyers for several reasons. It could serve as an extra bedroom, it could serve as a room to rent, or it could serve as a secondary room, like an office. No matter what, it’s a way of making the house bigger and more functional.
- A new garage or shed. People love outdoor storage. Even if you already have a garage or a shed, you’ll likely be able to increase the value of your home by adding something new; for example, you could turn your two-car garage into a three-car garage or upgrade the size and scope of your shed.
- Replacement doors. Doors are a relatively small investment, but they can help you squeeze a bit more value out of your home. Your front door is arguably the most important, since it lends the most value to curb appeal. But you should also consider replacing your garage door, especially if it’s starting to show its age.
- Better landscaping. Good landscaping can increase the value of your house by up to 20 percent. If your lawn looks like it’s in poor condition, or if you don’t have many trees, shrubs, or similar additions to show off, it might be time to refresh your entire outdoor area.
- A deck or patio. Adding a deck or a patio gives people an opportunity to enjoy themselves outdoors without totally abandoning the comfort of the home. And if you’re handy, you might be able to do most of the work yourself.
- Fresh paint. You’d be surprised how much the selling price of a home can increase with the simple application of a brush coat of paint. Painting indoors and outdoors makes the house look cleaner, newer, and more welcoming, especially if you choose the right colors. It’s an inexpensive project, and one you can probably do on your own, so it’s almost always worth considering.
These aren’t the only home upgrades available to you, and they aren’t the only ones worth considering. However, they are some of the most consistently valuable and the easiest for homeowners to access. Always do your due diligence before making these types of big financial decisions.
