We’ve all been hearing that Australia is a buyers’ market of late, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take certain steps to increase your home’s value and up the chances of selling it.
Today’s article will be shedding some light on how to increase the value of your home and get it market ready. You can use different avenues ranging from skylight installation to implementing a solid maintenance plan.
Are you ready? Let’s find out how to make sure your home gives you as much bang for your buck as possible.
Focus on Flow
These days, light airy properties that are easy to navigate are all the rage. So the aim should be to create spaces within your house that feel open and spacious, create a feeling of flow & that effortlessly merge one room into another coherently.
How does one do this? It’s rather simple. Knock down non-structural walls, get rid of semi-permanent fixtures and focus on creating a space that nobody could ever dream of calling cramped.
Another easy way to achieve perfect flow is to take two separate rooms and join them together to create one open-plan room. Now, obviously you can’t do this with just any room as there are very valid reasons why bathrooms and kitchens are separate. But lounges and dining rooms? Those could easily be merged to create a single communal area.
Removing a non-structural wall costs around $100 – $300 dollars depending on how much your handyman charges per hour.
Shine a Light on Natural Light
House hunters and people in general are becoming more conscious of their health & are always looking for ways they can better it. This is one of the reasons why skylight installation is a booming business in Australia right now. Improved eyesight, increased Vitamin D and boosted melatonin production are just a few examples of the health benefits of natural light.
Further to the proven health benefits, skylights also help homeowners to cut down on their heating and cooling bills, create a sense of architectural interest and add to a home’s overall resale value.
What is the typical skylight cost you may be wondering? That depends on a bunch of different factors ranging from the type of skylight you opt for to whether or not you opt for glazing. Including the unit itself a skylight installation usually starts at around $800 and goes all the way up to $3,500.
Is this chump change? By no means. But is this a huge investment into your home’s value? Absolutely.
Let Landscaping Lend a Hand
One of the best ways to up the value of your home? Improve the outside! Research conducted by the late Professor Mark S. Henry claims that even the smallest of landscaping changes can boost the overall value of your property by 7%.
In a trying market or not, 7% is enormous. So if you’re looking to significantly increase the value of your home, it’s time to put on those gardening gloves and get around to doing any of the following value-boosting landscaping jobs:
- An outdoor entertainment area
- A covered patio
- A plant-filled garden
- A deck
- Water features
Go Green
As citizens of the world become more eco-conscious, green homes are becoming more popular. And not just for the obvious benefit of putting less strain on the environment, but also because it can help reduce the cost of daily life.
You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on greening up your home, especially since you don’t plan on living there for much longer. But any of these small green home tips will be hugely attractive to potential buyers:
- Low-flow water faucets
- Solar panels
- Solar water heater systems
- Upgrade fixed appliances to energy efficient models
- Dimmer switch lighting
If you aren’t sure whether the cost of making your house a green one is worth it or not consider that the bulk of the Australian buyers’ market is comprised of millennials. What is the Australian millennial’s biggest concern? Protecting the environment. Do you see where we’re going with this?
Make Sure Your Home is Maintained
Our best nugget of advice to up the value of your home? Maintain it well and look after it properly. Before investing in any of the above-mentioned tips, make sure that the basics are all covered.
This means making sure your house is properly insulated, its septic system is in perfect working order, all plumbing issues are resolved and that your house’s structural integrity is uncompromised.
Once the foundational maintenance issues are sorted, you can move on to completing smaller tasks that have a big payoff like making sure your lawn is properly maintained, your gutters are clear and your paint isn’t peeling.
The rule of thumb for calculating how much you should be spending on home maintenance is an average of 1% of the property’s total value, per year.
Final Thoughts
Your home is an investment, and the state of the market shouldn’t be the only thing that controls the ROI on it. Implement any of the tips we’ve outlined for you today and do what you can to up your home’s value & increase your chances of selling it.