5 Home Improvements To Add Value To Your Home

There's no arguing that house prices and the property market are far from favourable as we enter 2011, and remortgage deals all but dried up. For this reason more people are staying put in their homes rather than looking to relocate. This is the perfect opportunity for home owners to make some valuable and worthwhile changes to their home in the hope to raise its potential asking price when the time does come to sell. Big or small, no matter what scale of improvement you opt for, home improvements can provide a significant financial return.

If developing the property for a quick flip on the market is your plan, renovation projects can take time to add appreciation onto a property, it's not an instant return you can expect, how value is added all depends on the state of the market and location. The risk is no value will be added to a property despite extensive work and additions, so you should enter into any project with the main aim being to make living space and your family comfortable the primary concern, and any profit or cash concerns the secondary benefit.

1 Affix an extension to your home: This is perhaps one of the most common and rewarding ways to add value to your property. An extension can usually only successfully work on larger detached homes, although this by no means suggests you should rule it out if you live in a semi-detached home for example. An extension will only add significant value to your property providing it is developed in the same style to the original property or becomes a major focal feature of your home. Similarly, an extension usually encroaches on the front or back garden of your property, and if the size of your garden is left disproportionate to the inside space of the home, you may find your property harder to sell.

Furthermore, adding an extension to your home has to add space that can be used constructively and in proportion to the rest of your inside space. For example, it wouldn't be wise to add another bedroom if your kitchen or living room is small just as it wouldn't be considered sensible to add another bedroom to a 4 bedroom property if you only have one bathroom. At the end of the day, the extension has to add something to your enjoyment of the property in addition to attracting a potential buyer, so weigh up all your options to decipher if an extension will be of actual benefit to you.

2 Loft Conversions: Loft conversions are rapidly becoming just as popular as extensions in adding value and benefit to a household, being the cheaper option and making a house seem more modern. Most conversions are priced between £8k-£15k depending on the house and cause less disruption than an extension would, scaffolding being on the roof instead of side walls of a property. Not a bad deal considering the amount of space a conversion can add to a traditionally built home.

A major edge conversions have over extensions is that they don't necessarily need planning permission, speeding up the building process; at best they can be completed in a month. Loft conversions can add a maximum of 20% onto a property price, but to get the whole 20% depends on the style and build of your property and the loft space. The roof height has to exceed 2.4 metres to be viable (2.4m is the absolute minimum height, you can get away at this height, but the taller, the better) with a steep pitched incline also being a major advantage.

3 Affix an en suite to a bedroom: Homes that are considered to have a 'master bedroom' or just one larger bedroom than the rest could consider fitting an en suite. These are a fantastic way of adding value to a property as they require a minimal amount of space and can make a normal bedroom much more appealing. En suites can be extremely discreet, and so can even work in smaller bedrooms without reducing the size of the room itself too drastically. An unused walk in wardrobe for example would be the perfect size to convert directly into an en suite. However, an en suite should not be regarded as a replacement for an additional bathroom. In a property where there are multiple bedrooms and only one main bathroom, potential buyers with larger families will be less inclined to buy as an en suite won't solve that morning bathroom rush!

4 Renovate your basement: Older properties that already have a basement can really benefit from an extension below the main living space. Older basements tend to be used as added storage space and are often neglected. Refurbishing the cold, dark and damp area into an additional room can make your property much more attractive. This doesn't mean you have to sacrifice your vital storage space either, by adding storage racks and units in the refurbished room means you can still neatly store all your clutter. Extended basements are a popular choice to create office space or a room to just relax in as they are generally much quieter than other rooms in the home. As this type of extension involves underground space, insulation and heating will also have to be considered to ensure that the room remains an inviting and comfortable area.

Building a basement can also be an option to consider, though I doubt it has to be pointed out this will be the most costly and disruptive to undertake and complete. Many owners and families choose to move out for all or some of the time it takes to build a basement it's that disruptive (average time of completion is 3 months), as a lot of large and specialist machinery would be needed for the construction. As for cost, expect to spend a colossal £80,000 on average to get the project completed, the main reason for such expense and time are that the houses foundations would have to be moved and reinforced, so it's a very complicated operation.

5 Eradicate internal walls: This is perhaps one of the cheapest home improvements you could undertake and you'd be surprised just what a difference knocking a wall down can do for a living space. This is a particularly useful option for homes that are small in size. Adopting an open plan lounge and dining room for example, by knocking down the adjoining wall is a quick and easy way of extending your daily living space.

Fewer walls in a house or a more open space design increase the natural light into a home, which in turn gives a nice airy and fresher feeling to a home, making it feel more comfortable to be in. The open and inviting feeling this option gives works better for different room combinations, for example, opening the dining room and kitchen to each other is pretty much in fashion at the moment and can be a major selling point. While this list does not include every possible option for upgrading your house and home, these options are the most popular and give the right balance of improving living space and the general comfort level, and the will increase appreciation enough to make the renovations a worthwhile investment.

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