5 Home Improvements To Add Value To Your Home

With the economic recovery being only slightly less sluggish than the recession, the housing market is continuing to be one of the worst performing sectors, and remortgage deals all but dried up, leading many people who wanted to sell their property to stay and improve it. The thinking behind this is that home owners will profit from improved properties when the housing market does finally pick up, if planned right and efficiently, conversions and extensions can be astute investments in your property.

With larger home improvements of this sort, you cannot expect to earn back the money you spend straight away. Extensions and renovations should be treated as long term investments, as you are unlikely to get a return until the property market is more favourable in regards to price competition and demand. Furthermore you are unlikely to make a return at all if your plans are not thought out properly in terms of realistic expectations, for example if you have enough space. For this reason, home owners are encouraged to only make home improvements first to improve their quality of living and only second to obtain a profit on a sale.

1 Add an extension to your home: The most common way of adding value to a property, they are very effective on detached homes, though that's not to say you'll be pouring money down the drain if you live in a terraced or semi-detached house. An extension must be designed in the same style as the rest of your house to gain the most in added value on your property, the only other alternative for it to add maximum value is if the extension adds a new major feature to a house, such as a focal point or room to the home. A little considered fact is the space the extension takes up, usually eating up garden space, so if your garden is left disproportionally small compared to the house, expect that to knock value off and make the house harder to sell.

What you are building the extension for counts just as much, if not more, than just building an extension for the sake of it. The room being added must have a purpose and rationally add what is needed, for example adding an extra bedroom to a 4 bedroom house with one bathroom isn't going to attract many people. Similarly, an extra bedroom when the kitchen or living room is small in comparison to the rest of house does not make sense and won't add much, if any value onto the property. If the extension is being added to make the property more enjoyable than functionality, it's going to be worthwhile, so have a long hard think if your planned extension can do that.

2 Renovate the loft: The ever underestimated loft conversion is slowly becoming more and more popular, no doubt for the space it adds and for the lower cost and hassle than an extension entails. Costing circa £8,000 to £15,000 they are much lower than what an extension would cost, and at the same time can really modernise the older, traditional build homes therefore making them so much more desirable. As for disruption, it will be minimal to none on with work going on a little used area of the house, the only problem is not every house can meet the criteria for a conversion, so it's best to research what the requirements are.

Additionally, planning permission is not always necessary for a loft conversion, so the time to complete a project is shortened to around one month. Whether your home can benefit from this type of development depends on the style and size of your loft space. For example the height of the roof space needs to exceed the minimum of 2.4 metres and a steeply pitched roof is regarded as ideal. Loft conversions can add as much as 20% onto the original value of your property; a significant amount considering the general disruption of the project is so minimal.

3 Affix an en suite to a bedroom: Properties with a master bedroom, or at least one bedroom significantly larger than the others should consider adding an en suite bathroom into the space. Using minimal space to begin with and making a bedroom much more desirable to prospective buyers. People can be amazed how little space is needed for an en suite; a little used walk in wardrobe can offer the perfect space for a discreet en suite. An en suite should be an addition and not a replacement for the main bathroom of the house, a house with 4 or more bedrooms and one bathroom can make demand and the morning queue's for the bathroom unbearable, having that sort of morning rush for a en suite would be hell on earth!

4 Renovate your basement: Basements tend to follow the same fate of loft/attic spaces; they attract clutter, dust and are greatly underused. Transforming your basement from a dark and gloomy storage room, to a warm and comfortable additional living space can add significant value to your property. Insulation is key here, as basements tend to be cold and damp. However, if conducted properly, a basement can become one of your favourite rooms, an isolated area where you can relax and unwind away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Adding a basement to a home is also an option if the property has the space under the house available, this option is a major trend with the millionaires and billionaires of Chelsea and Kensington, adding everything from gyms to underground swimming pools. For the average house however, you can expect 12 weeks of work and major disruption to a house, more than an extension or a loft conversion would cause, temporarily moving out might have to be considered. Carving out a basement is the most expensive option on this list, because specialist machinery would be needed and moving and reinforcing a house's foundations, it would cost around £80,000 to create. So think very carefully if the price is worth the disruption and work it would create.

5 Remove internal walls: This is perhaps one of the cheaper methods of adding value to property. The valuation market has changed considerably over the years, from a market that prioritised the amount of rooms in a property, to one that values square footage as the most important aspect to valuing a house. Knocking down internal walls is perhaps the simplest way to gain this extra square footage. It is a particularly popular method used by modern families, where communal spaces have to be larger in order to create a comfortably sized living space for larger families.

Fewer walls in a house or a more open space design increase the natural light into a home, which in turn gives a nice airy and fresher feeling to a home, making it feel more comfortable to be in. The open and inviting feeling this option gives works better for different room combinations, for example, opening the dining room and kitchen to each other is pretty much in fashion at the moment and can be a major selling point. While this list does not include every possible option for upgrading your house and home, these options are the most popular and give the right balance of improving living space and the general comfort level, and the will increase appreciation enough to make the renovations a worthwhile investment.


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