Home Improvements That Add Value

Thinking about making some additions to your home or some Home improvements in Santa Cruz? Wanting to know what would increase in value towards your home to where you can get some of your money back if you should ever sell or want to move? Today, I wanna talk about seven home improvement projects that can add value to your home and three that probably don’t. Right after this.

Today, I wanna talk about seven home improvements that can add value to your home and three that don’t. Number one is the kitchen.

Have you ever considered putting new doors on the cabinets? Replacing just the hardware? Painting your cabinets. What’s your countertop? Is it old glued on vinyl or do you have new granite?

Trying to keep up with what’s going on with all the new builds can add value to your home instead of looking like a home from another era. I know whenever I walk in the homes to show potential buyers, a lot of times, they walk in and they go, “Oh, this kitchen’s from the ’70s.” Well, if you think about it, that was 50 years ago.

Buyers want something that’s new and modern. Model could add value to your home, let’s consider.

You play new countertops, new sinks, new hardware, refinish the cabinets. Let’s just for all guesses and purposes say that upgrade costs you $10,000. When you sell, you may get a portion, a considerably large amount of that, or even more back by adding value to your home. Consider upgrading the appliances. Does your oven or does your stove have an old analog clock?

Today’s ovens, today’s stove all have digital and have had for quite some time. Do you have a dishwasher that’s white and a stove that’s black? And a refrigerator that’s silver? Upgrade your appliances to appliances from today, all one color, all one make. That can add value to your home and entice potential buyers to give you more once you’re ready to sell.

Let’s boost up the bathroom. According to the cost versus value report, you can recoup 85 to 97% of your investment by just making some minor changes to your bathroom. Upgrade the appliances, redo the lighting, re-grout the tub, re-calk around everything.

Very minor adjustments, but still they can bring about a lot of change. Fresh coat of paint, but just bring the bathroom up to standard or up to today.

That can help bring value to your home. Get decked out, considering add a deck or the rear of your home. Or here in Santa Cruz, with all the heat coming from above, a pergola or an overhang for your back patio area. Any kind of improvement that you could make outside to your home to make it more comfortable can be worth more money in the long run when you get ready to sell your home.

Boost your curb appeal.

Do you still have the box hedges that have been there for years, and each year you just trim them off to window level and the house has looked the same for years. Considering planting new trees, put in a new flower bed, take out the shrubs that have been there forever and have really dense growth. Replace them with new, up-to-date and modern plants. Consider xeriscape plants. Here in California, we don’t have to water them as much because our rainfall is limited at certain times of the year.

Boosting your curb appeal can bring you more money once you’re ready to move on. Increase your energy efficiency, consider adding more insulation to the attic.

Adding new windows, changing out the old aluminum pane windows for new double pane vinyl windows. Anything that can make your home more energy efficient using less energy in the harsh climates of winter and summer can bring more value to your home. So anything that you can make even a small, even all the way down to an adjustable thermostat, anything that you can do to your home to make it more energy efficient will make it more appealing to buyers and increase its value compared to the cost that it takes to upgrade.

Now, I promised three things that will not add value to your house.
Sometimes beauty is in the eye of the beholder. First and foremost is a swimming pool. Most people think, man, I put in a $30,000 swimming pool, that’s gotta increase the value of my house. Well, believe it or not, not everyone wants a swimming pool and it limits you on who you may be able to sell your home to because there are some people who do not want the maintenance, do not want the increase in homeowner’s insurance, and just have no need for the swimming pool. So yes, a swimming pool may be very important to you and your family. But it’s not always the case, and it may not add value to your house other than taking more money away. Garage conversions. Yes, you needed that fourth bedroom to gain some space, but the next and the potential buyer may want a garage.

Because your home no longer has a garage, it is decreasing in value for a potential buyer. So garage upgrades are not a great way to add value to your home, though you did add valuable square footage to your home. Solar power. You might be thinking, solar power, that would be a great way for people to save money, they’d do away with their electricity bill. However most solar plans are not paid for in cash, they’re signed to a lease, and a new buyer may not want to take over that lease.

In that event, the solar company would have to come and uninstall everything and install a new roof, and guess who gets to pay that expense? That’s right, you, the homeowner. So adding solar panels to a home probably won’t increase the home in value and can be seen in a very negative light.