Decorating your home is hugely exciting, but comes with big expenses to match. Large renovation projects are often put on the back burner as they can be tricky to budget, and even trickier to save for. However, some home improvements can add significant value to your house price, so tricky as they are to save for, they’re well worth doing if you’re planning on moving in the next few years. Some changes to your home that help you save on your bills, too! Here are our top picks.
Conservatory
If you have a house with enough garden space to spare, a conservatory or orangery is a brilliant investment to make on your home. Unlike an extension which needs planning permission, you should be fine to proceed with your conservatory providing less than half of the land you own is covered.
This is an ideal way to add more space to your house and increase its value. According to This Is Money, the average conservatory costs £5,300 but adds £5,750 profit to a home. This gives you a 108% return on investment!
Read more: Simple, Free Makeovers For Every Room In Your Home
Kitchen and Bathroom
It’s no surprise that installing a new kitchen or bathroom will add value to your property. These are essential spaces which people like to feel at ease in. In fact, Ideal Home recently reported that statistics from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors show that adding a new kitchen can increase your house price by 4%. Research by Nationwide Building Society showed that adding an en-suite or second bathroom can add 5% to your property price.
If your update is purely to add value to your home, then you should consider the cost to added value ratio. For example, adding an extremely expensive kitchen or bathroom for £20,000 is pointless if your property is worth less than £100,000! The amount the value of your home increases by will not be enough to warrant the lavish spend. Stick to a classic, neutral design which won’t go out of fashion, and you should benefit when it comes to selling.
Exterior
You’ll struggle to sell your property if it has zero curb appeal. Imagine yourself as a potential buyer walking past the house. Would you be interested in going inside? If the answer’s no, your home exterior probably needs a makeover!
In most cases, sprucing up the outside of your home needn’t be a costly exercise. If you live in a flat, it can be as simple as painting the door and getting a nice, inviting doormat. For houses, make sure the walls are clean or freshly painted, the path is free of weeds, and the lawn is kept tidy. Add a hanging basket or some potted plants for an even prettier aesthetic. This can add up to £5,000 to your property price as well as getting more people through the door.
TV presenter and property expert Phil Spencer suggests paving over the front lawn to create extra parking space. He estimates a potential added value of up to £50,000 in some areas where parking is scarce, like London!
Related: 5 Easy Things You Can Do To Save The Planet And Save Money
Energy efficiency
Making changes to your home isn’t all about the profit you’ll make when you decide to leave. Having a more energy efficient space means you won’t need to use the heating as much and will, therefore, save on energy bills.
There are lots of grants available for various home energy efficiency improvements from the Government. These include cavity walls, roof and flooring insulation, new boilers, renewable heating systems and draught proofing. Simply visit the Gov.uk website, fill in the questions and see what you’re eligible for!
Has this given you some inspiration to get going with your home improvements?
