4 Features That Will Help You Get a Higher Price On Your House

These Features Will Help You Get a Higher Price on Your House

In order to know how much your home is really worth, you have to know what affects its value. The real market value of your home includes more than just your home’s size and amenities; it also includes perks of the location itself. Don’t sell your home short by forgetting to advertise all of its best features.

Can’t find any obvious attention-grabbers in your house? Create them. Here are several renovations and updates you can do in your home to bump its value.

Keep up with the Kitchen

Everyone knows that the kitchen is the Heart of the Home. Despite the perception that millennials are cooking less, most first time home buyers still believe the kitchen is a selling point. The caveat here is that most buyers are looking for a model or updated kitchen in their future home. For as little as $5,000, you should be able to add a new suite of appliances, as well as a new countertop and flooring, resulting in a fresh, coordinated look.

Sellers can use the listing descriptions to highlight trendy details and features that might not be noticeable in photos online. Listings that noted their “farmhouse sink” led to a nearly 8 percent sales premium. Stainless steel appliances are also hot right now, and can potentially bump your sales prices 3-7 percent.

Create Strategic Living Spaces

Bigger isn’t always better in today’s market, but strategically increasing your amount of living space is a sure way to boost home value. “Open floor plan with flexible living space” is high on millennials’ list of desired features.

Not only do buyers want large, open spaces with multiple uses, but many younger buyers look for additional flex rooms throughout the home. Additional spaces will likely be used as dedicated office space, play spaces for future children, exercise rooms or study areas. Finishing a basement is a fairly easy and common way to add usable square footage to a home. Homeowners spend between $10,000 and $27,000 converting a basement on average.  Converting spaces into dedicated laundry rooms with integrated washer/dryer sets can also bump your home’s value 4-6 percent.

Ensure Energy Efficiency

Lowering your home’s energy costs will save you money for as long as you live there and will likely become a major selling point. In fact, “energy-­efficient” was 2nd on the list of attributes that would most influence a purchase decision, according to a 2015 survey by the National Association of Home Builders.

More and more frequently, buyers are asking to know the R-Value on potential homes’ insulation and whether or not the windows have low-E coatings. Learn these numbers and advertise the efficiency of your home. If your home isn’t built with energy in mind, it’s likely that updating its efficiency can bump its value significantly. Water heating alone accounts for 16 percent of energy costs in a typical home, and spending $1,800 to $2,400 on a new unit is another way to impress efficiency-minded buyers. Energy Star certified windows can lower your home’s energy bills by 7 to 15 percent. That’s a long-term investment you can point out to potential buyers.

Protect with Paint

Paint keeps your home looking its best, but is also important for protecting walls and surfaces from wear, tear, and the elements. There’s no need to have every square repainted, but painting high-traffic areas– the kitchen and bathrooms, can help your home look better than it’s looked before.

Whites and off-whites remain the top-selling interior colors and will appeal to most homebuyers, allowing them to envision the space as their own. Neutrals appeal to all generations of buyers. When choosing a pain, opt for high quality, like Home Depot’s Behr Marquee ($43 per gallon), our top-rated interior paint. A fresh coat of protectant paint can bump your overall sale price 1-2 percent.

Additional features that can earn you a premium above their expected value (%):

• Steam shower (29%)
• Professional-grade appliance (29%)
• Pizza oven (26 %)
• Pet shower (25%)
• Outdoor kitchen (25%)
• Entertainer or prep sink (25%)
• Shed or garage studio (24%)
• Heated floors (24%)
• A meditation room (24%)
• Wine fridge (22%)

You know your homes best features. Don’t sell your home short by not highlighting its stand-out points! Live close to a Starbucks? Your home value increases by 96 percent! Near a metropolitan area? Your urban home is now worth 35 percent more than the average suburban home.

Need help understanding what adds value to your home? Chat with one of our seller’s agents about what your house is worth.