Doing These Eight Things Will Help Increase Your Home’s Appraised Value

Looking for ways to increase the appraised value of your home? There are many things you can do to boost its overall value. The biggest things determining the value of your home are its location, its size, and the current market conditions. While these three factors are out of your control, there are still many things you can do to impress appraisers and list your house for top dollar.

Before you go spending thousands of dollars in renovations, however, make sure you follow this advice from the outset.

Create a Budget – Do your research and come up with a realistic budget and do your best to play within it. You need to be careful that what you spend on renovations is less than the potential increase in value of your house.
Keep Careful Records – Every trip to the hardware store adds up, so write everything down, keep receipts, and make note of any warranties you get. This information will help you impress the appraiser as well as prospective buyers.

Now that you’ve got the “bookkeeping” out of the way, here are 8 things you can do to increase the value of your home.

1. Consult pros along the way – Ask your real estate agent, your contractor, or even the owner of the paint store for advice along the way. It’s often free!
2. Book a Home Appraisal – Hiring an accredited appraiser at the beginning can help you understand what your home is worth in its current condition. It can also help you qualify for a home equity line of credit for larger projects.
3. Consider Your Neighbourhood – Check to see the listing prices of homes in your neighbourhood before getting too deep into a renovation. The neighbourhood will dictate the upper limits of what you can realistically expect to sell your house for. This ultimately affects how much money you should invest in improvements. For example, fancy fixtures might be over the top and quickly eat up the budget without adding any value to your listing price. You might not get back the cost of those $1,000 lighting fixtures. Likewise, a prospective buyer won’t be willing to overpay for your property just because it has a sauna.
4. Enhance Your Curb Appeal – A house that looks well taken care of from the outside can impress appraisers and prospective buyers alike. Enhancing your home’s curb appeal includes things like:
  Cleaning the roof: Get rid of that overgrown moss. For most houses, it’s not a charming look.
  Repairing the roof: Attend to roof repairs. A roof in poor condition will be flagged during a home inspection, allowing people to low ball or withdraw their offers.
  Fixing the fence: Fix your fence if it needs fixing but note that adding a fence where there wasn’t one there before might cost a lot without adding value.
  Power wash: A thorough power wash can quickly revive patios, driveways, and paths.
  Lawns: Keep the grass green and trim.
  Landscaping: Weed the garden, trim the hedges, and check with your municipality about removing hazardous looking trees.
5. Fix the Small Details – Inside, a lot of small fixes can add value. Things like leaking faucets, noisy bathroom fans, cracked windows, holes in the walls, burned out lightbulbs, carpet stains, and aging or outdated electrical fixtures can make your home seem like it needs a lot of work, thereby reducing its value. So, take care of these easy fixes.
6. Fresh Coat of Paint – A freshly painted house will clean and brighten everything up. Pick neutral colours, shop around for reliable painting companies, and be amazed at how quickly your value has increased.
7. Make It a Smart Home – Adding a few “smart” features to your home can add a touch of modern tech and appeal, without costing a lot. Consider installing Wi-Fi-enabled thermostats, doorbells and other gadgets to increase appeal.
8. Kitchens & Bathrooms – In many cases, a kitchen or bathroom reno can increase the value of your home. But proceed with caution because these types of projects can end up costing more money than what they add to your home’s selling price.

Every home is different. A kitchen renovation might make sense in one home, whereas in another house, adding a second bathroom instead of replacing the kitchen might make more sense.

Sometimes you can avoid going the whole nine yards and can get away with just swapping out the appliances and adding a fresh countertop. Make kitchen and bathroom renovation decisions wisely and consult an expert before you begin ripping out cupboards and bathtubs.

To learn more about the appraisal process and what appraisers look for when they visit your property, contact D. Fritz Appraisals – your Victoria, BC property appraisal experts servicing Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.