3 Updates That Can Increase Your Home's Value
All homeowners want for their properties to increase in value over time. However, even as the demand for high-quality housing rises, the natural cycle of valuation involves gradual decreases in a property’s value. Of course, there are some home improvements that may help property owners to increase the assessed market value of a property. While a boost in value may subject homeowners to higher property taxes, the appreciation of real property assets can be extremely advantageous. First, a home that is worth more than it was previously may enable a homeowner to refinance outstanding obligations on a home more favorably or secure new loans to weather temporal variations in income. Second, raising the value of your home can position you to obtain a higher payment in a sale. Here are a few ways that you can give the value of your home a boost while also enhancing the quality of your homelife.
1. Replace Failing Windows
Older homes have a lot of visual appeal, but key features that are aging out can represent significant drawbacks in the realities of living in an older home. Warped flooring and cracked foundations are examples of costly problems which depreciate the value of older homes. Likewise, very old windows are a very serious and common concern for homeowners.
After years or decades of use, windows won’t function as well as they once did. Once the seal of a window becomes just slightly compromised, water intrusion around the frame of a window can cause damage to a window and its frame. A window sill that is visibly out of place or feels soft to the touch has almost certainly sustained some form of moisture-induced damage. In fact, the area’s of your home’s drywall that surround your windows could also have damage from dampness and contain mold. Once a small amount of mold forms in drywall, it can spread rather rapidly. Proximity to a compromised area where water will continue to permeate the affected area is almost a guarantee that the issue will worsen over time. Remediating a mold problem can be costly, so it is important for homeowners to act swiftly if they suspect that windows are not adequately protecting their home from the elements.
2 .Upgrade Your Electrical System
Homeowners need to be extremely careful about how they use an oven and small cooking appliances in order to avoid a potentially dangerous house fire. An eye towards fire safety is also an important consideration with operating some other basic household appliances such as clothes dryers and water heaters. However, being really attentive to fire safety necessitates a careful examination of your current electrical system. Older homes may be at a high risk of electrical fire because they often have old fuse boxes instead of new circuit breakers.
Outdated fuse boxes are sometimes very hot to the touch because the way that they convert energy causes some of it to convert to heat. Moreover, wiring that is inconsistent with current electrical codes on residential standards may significantly increase the risk of an electrical fire. It is also worth noting that small changes to wiring over time may not be consistent with an older home’s primary electrical infrastructure. Mismatches in wire’s density and coverings could cause disruptions when the amount of power moving through a fuse or a wire changes in even just a small increment.
Upgrading an old fuse box to a circuit breaker can help to avoid damage to your home’s wiring system that can result in fire. If the voltage running through any part of a system experiences a surge or sudden fluctuation, the breaker will interrupt the transmission automatically rather than allow a dangerously high voltage to continue running. This safeguard mitigates the risk of both fire and electrocution. Also, this type of upgrade may help you make your home more energy efficient. By losing less electrical power in the form of heat and being able to totally shut off the flow of power when you turn something off, you won’t be continually running volts when you don’t need to. After you make the upgrade, you may see an appreciable amount of savings reflected in your energy usage bill.
3. Install a Renewable Power Source
One of the very best ways to be more energy efficient is to install a solar power system. This eco-friendly home improvement is a growingly popular feature that new homebuyers like to see. You can make your home less dependent on electricity that comes from fossil fuels and other nonrenewable resources, or you can even power all of your electrical needs with this sustainable solution.
Having a solar power system can make your home more valuable in the event that you choose to sell it. In fact, having this type of feature may be the ultimate difference-maker when prospective buyers have narrowed their house hunting quest down to a short list of contenders.
It may be possible to finance solar power systems affordably and take advantage of state rebate programs or tax incentives. After months or years of paying less to power your home, the energy infrastructure that you’ve added onto your home can pay for itself in savings. Furthermore, having an independent power source may prove to be invaluable if your area is affected by a widespread outage.
Having a solar panel system on your rooftop is a strong statement that can get positive attention in your neighborhood. It shows that you take the climate crisis seriously and you’re managing your home’s needs efficiently.
If you're considering making improvements to your home, you should prioritize projects that will raise your home’s value. Take care of these projects before improvements that offer only aesthetic benefits or don’t offer any substantive utility in how you will use your home. Ultimately, if you can spend several years living in a house and profit from it, then you’ve done very well for yourself. Being able to sell a home at a profit is tremendously gratifying and can help you afford an even nicer home in the future.
