Which home improvements add the most value? One of the biggest investments that anyone will make in their lives is purchasing a home. These are not cheap to come by and generally cost anything between a hundred thousand dollars to millions. Generally, homeowners will spend a large amount of time in their home and because of this, it is important that the home is to the design and look that best fits the persons need. Doing a lot of changes to a home could be quite costly depending on what it is you are looking to do, however, if this is all planned out effectively then there is an opportunity to get good quality bargains and the home to the look that is considered “perfect”. Everyone has their unique taste and what one person likes, another person may despise, however, below we have come up with some suggestions that could be taken into consideration when it comes to improving your home and adding value to it.
Swimming Pool
In many parts of the US, a swimming pool is a pretty standard thing that homes have – especially in some of the warm states like Nevada or Florida. If a home is not built with a swimming pool, then it could be quite a large project to get this installed.
Unfortunately, due to the climate differences in the US, it may not be appropriate to have a pool installed outside and it may be better to have an indoor pool. This then becomes a greater costing project and may even require permissions from the authorities to do this due to structural changes being made. Most children love the thought of running into a swimming pool and playing with toys, therefore, this investment could make a very happy family.
Sports
Depending on the size of the land that you have, you may decide to have some areas for sports activities. This does not have to be costly and the most common things you will see is basketball areas and tennis courts.
The basketball areas are not expensive to do; however, the tennis courts could be depending on the court surface that is chosen (grass, clay, concrete).
Rather than homeowners join sports clubs, it would just be awesome from them to come home from work and have their favorite sports ground currently situated in their home.
Energy Systems
There are standard ways to get gas or electrics into your home, but modern, innovative homes are doing something a little different.
In support of climate change reduction targets, there are many homes that are reducing their environmental impact by going for solar power throughout.
The best solar power companies in Ontario and places like this have really seen a massive increase in demand as consumers are looking to take advantage of that cheap installation costs. When homes have these installed, not only are they making positive inroads to the environment but the overall costs each month for energy are significantly less as to what they are used to be paying.
For instance, Ontario solar companies like Semper Solaris are ones that look to provide the full overall service from installation and maintenance. When initiating this project, the company will give you a good indication as to what the energy savings will be before installation – they will run simulations on your behalf in advance. How innovative is that?
Extension
If the space in your home allows it, you may wish to consider an extension. This could be for any reason including building an office, more bedrooms or even a games room. There are a lot of things you need to take into consideration when planning this activity:
- Materials – What type of materials will you build the extension with? There are many cheap and simple options to consider which could include steel buildings – these can come in packs and they are easy to assemble. Think of the weather conditions in your area and how you would want this building to withstand the worst weather.
- Insurance – Make sure that you inform your home insurance company of the extension and get it covered. You do not want to go to all the hassle of doing this project for something wrong to happen after completion (for example a fire) and to then find out that it is not covered in the insurance.
- Permissions – Even if you have the available land space that you own, it is not always permissible for you to build an extension without permission from the local authorities. If you go ahead and do this without their permission it could be taken to court and you could be forced to demolish it (and receive a hefty fine).
The interior of the extension will depend exactly what it is you are looking to do with this, however, you need to think about the flooring types, electrics, plumbing and then any interior decorations, etc that you would be looking for.
Off-Road Parking
Depending on where it is your home is located, off-road parking is usually something that is looked for. In crowded cities, this is more of a novelty but not having this could cause you unnecessary grief and aggravation.
Some cities offer things such as parking permits for people so that outside their home they can park on the street – this is sometimes quite costly. An option to get off-road parking would be to build a driveway.
If your property space allows it then this is a viable option that could help with the parking dilemma, but it also usually adds a little bit of money to your house value. If you are going to go ahead on this project, then it should be done correctly otherwise you could find yourself in a bit of bother. Here are some of the recommendations:
- Permissions – Similar to the home extensions, you may need to get permission. This would normally involve the neighboring homes and businesses given the opportunity to raise an objection (or not). They can do this on a few levels but ultimately, if you are looking to have a driveway built, this will include the space in front of the property being asked to be kept free of parked cars so that you can access it. The authorities will clearly have an opinion on this, and they will have the final say as to whether permission is granted.
- Quality of Work – Building a driveway may seem like quite a simple activity and in theory, it is, however, if this is not completed to the correct workmanship then there could be a level of kickback. An example of this being, the preparation for a driveway. Ultimately, the base needs to be correct or when the driveway is complete it may look great but the following year, the weeds, plants or grass will start to come through making it extremely difficult to maintain.
- Quotations – If you have decided to get an external company to do this for you, you should not go with the first quotation received, get 3 or 4 and then haggle with the company you are looking to employ. You can get the reviews of the company from the internet so that you can see what previous people have said about them and then you can try and take a balanced view yourself on whether they are reputable or not. Word of mouth is also that shouldn’t be underestimated, and you should try and speak to others who may have had a project like this completed recently so that you can get some sound advice.
Interior Design
When you go to show homes and are looking at a house to buy, you are presented with some nice homes that have fantastic interior design. This has been completed by professionals who are experts in this industry who are doing this to make the home look as appealing as possible for potential buyers. Why could you not get this all done for your home?
When you are browsing the TV channels you are almost certain to come across some sort of home interior program or makeover show – this is exactly something that you can do to get the best potential.
Hot Tub
One of the fads of the last decade is hot tubs. These are beginning to appear in houses all over the country. There are many different levels of hot tubs that you could purchase from the blow-up ones that cost a couple of hundred dollars to the glam and glitz of hot tubs that cost more than $10k.
The modern, innovative hot tubs are large and even have phone docking stations, flashing lights and radios for your make the overall experience far more enjoyable.
Installing these pieces of equipment is also something that is easy to do, and the experts will come and do this on your behalf.
There are a few things that you need to look out for with this though which include the upkeep costs. If you are planning to keep this heated and filtered constantly, the monthly energy costs associated with this can be high (even more reason for you to incorporate solar panels to your home). The cheap options of the hot tubs can be purchased quite easily through companies like Amazon and are easy to put up and easy to dismantle to suit your needs.
Think of Selling Potential
Usually, when you purchase a home it is a pretty safe bet in terms of investing for the future. You will normally see that the price of a home will rise year after year and people can get a good return for their initial investment.
When you are doing any work or enhancements to improve your home, how you will then sell it in the future should be taken into consideration. This could include things like reducing the number of rooms that you have in the property to enlarge the ones you have (for example if you children have left the home now to get their own place). This may suit your circumstances at this time; however, it may not be the longer-term thing to do in order to sell the home.
You can get your house valued at any time from expert companies but there are also some good websites around where you can enter your home address and it will give you a rough estimate as to the value of it. This will not consider the level of improvements (or not) that you have completed but it at least gives you a rough indication.
Cinema Room
Something that is the icing on the cake in modern homes is a cinema room! These do not need to be large and extravagant and can be basic, however, the kudos you receive for having this in the first place is pretty good.
These cinema rooms can also accommodate games so you can connect the PS4 or other games console to it and play the games on the big screen.
Clearly, by investing in something like this you will need a spacious room that is vacant and looks to invest in the technology and sounds in order to make this top-notch. This may be something to consider outsourcing to an expert company to make sure that the quality of the room is high.
Another thing to bear in mind with this is that technology is changing at a fast pace. 10 years ago, there was no HD but now we have 3D and enhanced surround sound that is far better than it was a long time ago. Is this something you are prepared to continue to invest in to make your room stay up with the pace of technology improvements?
Make sure to consider these things to improve your home.
photo source | pexels + giphy