Want to boost your home’s value? Here are the projects to focus on first.
If you list out the reasons you bought a home, “building equity through a sound investment” is probably pretty close to the top. For most homeowners, their home is the single largest investment they will make in their lifetime. While a hot market can help you build equity in your home, you should also be thinking about home projects and improvements that have the potential to boost your home’s value even further.
In this article, we’ll review why home value should matter to every homeowner, the best projects to tackle first, and the importance of curb appeal—which may or may not involve an actual, physical curb these days. Let’s dive in!
Why your home value matters
Obviously, home value is most pertinent when you go to list your home. A higher home value means a better chance of either meeting or exceeding the remaining loan amount, which is equity that you get when you sell. This equity can be put toward buying your next home or simply put into your savings.
Home value is strongly influenced by market forces and a few other factors—neighborhood location, quality of nearby school districts, crime rate—that are outside of your control. However, homeowners do have some control over their home’s value: in the same neighborhood, homes in good shape with upgraded amenities are going to sell for more than rundown homes with outdated rooms.
Not planning on listing your home anytime soon?
Even if you’re not planning on selling your home in the near future, there are several benefits to boosting your home’s value through upgrades and improvements:
- If you have Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) as a result of putting less than 20% down when you bought your home, you may be able to discharge this fee by having your home appraised and showing a certain loan-to-value ratio. The higher your value, the more likely PMI is to be discharged. Talk to your lender for their specific policies.
- If you’re thinking about refinancing or taking out a Home Equity Line Of Credit, a higher home value can be similarly beneficial.
- Life can be unpredictable! You may not even be thinking about selling your home one day and then get an unexpected job offer—with a significant raise attached—in a new city. If you already made value-boosting improvements, you can get the most out of your home in the short window you have to list, sell, and move.
Now that we’ve made the case for why home value matters, let’s dive into the best ways to maximize yours.
Kitchen & bathroom remodels
Reality TV is rarely right about many things, but those home remodeling shows are pretty on-point (and influential) when it comes to one thing: buyers love upgraded kitchens and bathrooms. Bathroom and kitchen remodels generally have a very high return-on-investment: around 105% and 98.5% respectively, according to HGTV.
To get to the point where you recoup the money you put into your kitchen and bathroom, you’ll need to be strategic in your approach. This means finding good deals on new countertops and cabinets—essential for a kitchen refresh—without sacrificing on quality. It also means saving where you can (installing your own vinyl floors, for instance, can cut down on installation costs) and avoiding too many extras (that jacuzzi tub could add value, but not to the point where you’ll get the money back you invested into it).
The great thing about upgrading a kitchen and bathroom is that you get to enjoy the space, too. Even if you aren’t planning on selling your home at the moment, refreshing these two rooms can bring new energy to your home.
Exterior painting & landscaping
According to HGTV, exterior painting and improvements to your home has a 95.5% ROI. That means for every $100 you invest into having your home painted, you’re likely to get $95 of that back when you sell your home. This makes exterior painting one of the best projects you can do prior to listing.
Here in Phoenix, homes with stucco exteriors require special care and painting. Our recommendation is that you give our team a call if your stucco is starting to look faded or damaged. Exterior paint that has seen too many hot Valley summers can begin to fade, peel, and generally make your home look dingy and sun-blasted.
Trust us: in the world of home sales, looks count for something.
Your home’s curb appeal matters
One of the reasons that exterior painting has such a high ROI is because of survivorship bias. Let’s explain:
Today’s buyers are quickly scanning through dozens, if not hundreds, of online listings looking for their next home. The first picture they see is the front of the house. Your home might have mere microseconds to make a good first impression. If it doesn’t, the buyer is already on to the next listing. The less clicks your home gets online, the less prospective buyers who send the link to their realtor. That means fewer in-person visits to your home, which translates to fewer interested parties, fewer offers, fewer bidding wars between buyers, and—potentially—you and your realtor needing to lower the asking price after two frustrating months of scattered showings.
All of that changes if your home can make a good impression. This is why projects like exterior painting and landscaping, while they might initially feel superficial, are incredible value boosters. As an added benefit, our exterior stucco painting can provide lasting value, as our process and paint results in a longer-lasting, better-looking home exterior.
Take the next steps to boost your home’s value
Now is the time to re-invest into your home and make improvements to boost its value. At Crash of Rhinos Painting, we can help with your stucco exterior painting needs.