5 Ways to Add Value to Your Home

There's no arguing that house prices and the property market are far from favourable as we enter 2011. For this reason more people are staying put in their homes rather than looking to relocate. This is the perfect opportunity for home owners to make some valuable and worthwhile changes to their home in the hope to raise its potential asking price when the time does come to sell. Big or small, no matter what scale of improvement you opt for, home improvements can provide a significant financial return.

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 Loft Conversions

When someone suggests adding an extension onto your property, you rarely think of extending into your loft space, as a result loft conversions are completely underestimated. The loft space of a property can amount to a significant square footage and in return can be transformed into a comfortable bedroom for example. Also, they tend to be much cheaper to construct than the general extension, usually around £8k to £15k and, as the space is essentially already there, the disruption caused is extremely minimal. The only downside to this form of extension is that it can obviously only be done on certain homes, so you must research if your home could in fact benefit from this.

A further advantage of a loft conversion over the more generic extension is that they don't always require planning permission, which makes it a much quicker process than an extension. Most of all though is the potential value it can add to your property; as much as 20 per cent! And that's even sweeter considering it can be a relatively speedy process with minimal disruption. However, in order for a loft conversion to work successful, the roof has to exceed 2.4 metres in height, so houses with rather steep sided roofs are considered ideal.

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!

Properties with basements have a good head start on properties without one, most are just used as storage space or maybe a utility room. But they are a prime space to convert and expand, creating a new large space to be used by you and your family, most basements are cold and dark, so they are not considered for renovation very often. Storage space can still be kept by incorporating it into the renovation, by building racks and shelves into the room or separating a smaller section as a storage room. They tend to be much quieter as well, so can provide a perfect office space, meditation room or even a workout room/gym. As basements can be the quietest part of a property, popular uses for the new room can be office space, a study or den, maybe even a games room or gym, emphasis being on a space where you can relax and de-stress.

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

Easily one of, if the not the cheapest option to improve a house and living space of a property, with estate agents now valuing a house by square footage instead of the time old by how many rooms a home has. For growing families it can be an elegant and quick solution to increase living space to make a house seem more spacious and comfortable.

Knocking down walls doesn't just provide a property with more living space, but it also maximises the amount of natural light in the room which is a fantastic pulling factor for potential buyers. An influx of natural light makes the room appear open and inviting, which means it will undoubtedly become the focal point of compliments from visitors. So, while this list is by far from final, it does provide some useful tips and advice if you are looking to add that extra bit of value onto your property. So, even if you aren't looking to sell your property, how about giving it a bit of a revival today, it will certainly add to your lifestyle!

The Improvements we mentioned above can range from the relativity simple and to the more complex and expensive, house renovations are never going to cheap. It's all a matter of how much you are willing to spend and how much work you are willing to do, plan wisely and plan a lean and tight budget and you'll squeeze the most in added value possible.


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