Knowing what buyers want when it comes to a property will not only ensure that your home sells quicker but also for a greater sale price.

Every year, a large number of homeowners in the United Kingdom spend money on renovations in order to raise the value of their properties. While some people are ready to spend a lot of money on major home upgrades, not all large projects yield the best results. When it comes to determining the home’s value, small modifications can save you a lot of money. 

As Cheltenham Estate Agents, here are some of our best recommendations for raising the value of your property.

Makeover of the outdoor spaces:

Outdoor space is just as vital as your indoor space. Spending a little money on your garden will boost the total value of your home. To make the exterior space appear more appealing, consider adding a small patio or a paved walkway.

Just by enhancing your property’s ‘kerb appeal,’ you can increase the value of your home by up to 10%. A newly painted façade, a tidy driveway, a new front door and clean windows can all help. When potential buyers browse online or come in for a viewing, the first thing they see is the outside of your home.

Changing the internal layout:

A layout that is in demand is open-plan living. It has been popular for a long time and shows no signs of going out of style anytime soon. Most modern house buyers are searching for places that are functional and versatile, and cooking your food in one area and then having to transfer it to another to consume it seems a little out of date.

You want to create places that are connected but unique, so open-plan living spaces don’t have to be huge or rectangular. Consider separating your room with sliding doors or drapes that can be drawn back during daytime, waist or shoulder-high separators, or doorway-like arches.

A few spacious bedrooms are preferable to a number of small rooms. Consider tearing down walls to expand and enlarge your bedroom.

Adding additional bedrooms and bathrooms:

You should think about converting unused space in your house into a guest bedroom. Otherwise, if you opt to have a house extension, you might take into account the expenses of a new bedroom.

The number of bathrooms, like bedrooms, is a ranking factor for your home, and it’s an important figure in evaluating the property. A little downstairs lavatory may be a simple way to extract profit from wasted space. You can make use of a broom closet, pantry or storage under the stairs to create a small downstairs loo.

Adding a second bathroom can increase the value of your home by up to 5%. 

Converting a loft:

Attic space can be useful if converted into a usable area such as an office, bedroom, gym, or storage space. It’s a waste of valuable space to keep your loft empty. Prioritize underutilised spaces such as the loft if you do choose to spend on renovations.

Loft conversions can be difficult to execute properly. But if done well, you may reap significant domestic and financial benefits.  Increasing square footage of your house will definitely increase its value. Given the market’s obsession with the number of bedrooms, adding one may almost assure a large profit when it comes to selling.

Loft conversion costs roughly £40,000 on average, but it can raise the value of your home by up to 21%. They’re normally a long-term approach, so if you sell right away, you may not get all of your money back.

Loft conversions aren’t cheap – and aren’t appropriate for every home. However, with the right kind of property, they can certainly be a lucky bonus.

Decoration of the interior:

Another common improvement option is redecorating. To modernise a property, you don’t need to invest a lot of money. To breathe fresh life into various areas of your home, you can redo walls, apply new wallpaper, purchase new furniture, and possibly do some basic cleaning and upkeep.

A well-designed kitchen can easily attract more potential value. Similarly, a fresh coat of paint may instantly make claustrophobic spaces more marketable.

Your home may not be brand new, but it will appear that way to potential buyers, and you’ll be doing yourself a favour if you can make it appear appealing as soon as they walk through the door.

You love your home, your family loves your home, but is it looking past its best, and is it holding value, or is it losing money? As your home is one of the biggest investments you will make in life, it is important that you manage it as well as possible. To manage your home, you must focus on increasing its value – as and where you can. When you increase its value, you have the potential to create a nice nest egg for yourself and your family. So, to raise the value of your home what improvements should be made and how are you going to fund these improvements?

What Improvements Will Add Value

Bathrooms and kitchens not only sell homes, but they add value too. Clean, bright, and light bathrooms and kitchens are inviting and they are welcoming. If a kitchen is outdated you will find that it lets down the whole house. Similarly, if a bathroom is a dark shade of brown or avocado, you will see a few thousand easily knocked off the value of your home. Adding space and renovating key areas within your home is going to add value, and it is going to increase saleability in the future (should this be something that you wish to pursue).

How Much Money Do You Need

Once you have established what improvements and works you are going to do on your home, you then have to establish what budget you need. How much money do you need to successfully complete all of the projects that you want? Do you need a contingency fund in place? You should not start carrying out any home improvement works without first establishing a budget, because this could be disastrous. It could mean that you end up spending more than you want to, and this will taint the renovations and improvements that you carry out.

Funding Options – What is Right for You?

When you are looking at funding your improvements, you need to look at the funding options available to you, and you need to look at affordability too. You do not want to be borrowing more than you can afford to pay back. Similarly, you do not want to be paying a higher interest rate on any borrowing that you do, as this will impact the value you add to your home, and it will leave you in an unstable position too. So, what options are right for you? How long will you require the funding for, and have you got any collateral upfront you can use to secure funding?

Equity Release – Is it Necessary

When large-scale improvements and renovations are being carried out to your home, you may well look at equity release. However, is this necessary? Equity release can be disastrous, it will increase your monthly mortgage payments, and it may be an expensive way to borrow money. With equity release, you may find that you release more money than your home is actually worth, and this may affect you if you come to sell your home. It could mean you end up out of pocket after all – and this is certainly not what you want. Weighing up the pros and cons of equity release, and looking at hidden costs, will help you establish if this option is even necessary.

Loans and Borrowing

High street banks can be turned to for borrowing and lending, however, are they always the best and only option, and are they truly competitive? There are other avenues that you can pursue loans and borrowing, and you may find that they are better suited to you, and to your circumstances. For example, Logbook Loans from Car Cash Point may be suitable for you, especially if you have a family car for use as collateral. Finding the right borrowing options for you, and your family, is important, and you should take time to weigh up interest rates and affordability before making a commitment.

Family and Friends

Getting support from family and friends is crucial when you are looking at improving and renovating your home to increase its value. Reaching out to family and friends for guidance, and even looking at the skills they can contribute to your project is something that you may take into account. If you are reaching out to family and friends for financial aid or support, you have to be very clear on how much you are borrowing, and for what. Unclear lines of communication between family, friends, and finances can cause rifts, and of course, this is not what you need or want.

Having a Renovation Plan

Even when you have your funding in place for your home improvements, you then have to narrow down what you will do, and when. You do not want to try and tackle too many projects at once (even if your to-do list is long) as this will cause you unnecessary stress and pressure. Instead, you want to focus on doing one improvement or renovation at a time. This way you can get the area or room how you want it, before moving on to the next project. A renovation plan will give you structure for your plans and your ideas, and it will help bring your visions and ideas to life.

It’s easy to treat lighting as an afterthought when sorting out the decor in your home. After all, does there really have to be much of a complicated strategy behind simply illuminating a room? 

In a sense, no. However, exactly where you put electric lights in your home can make a surprisingly big difference to how effectively it is lit up. Here are some example places for you to place lights — and details of exactly what types of lights you should consider in each case.

Every single room of the house 

Yes, it isn’t the largest revelation this article could have made. Besides, exactly what kinds of lights you should have in a given room can depend on a wide range of variables. 

One big exception to this rule arises with what is called ambient lighting. Homebuilding & Renovating defines this as “the lighting that gives overall illumination to a room” — and potential sources of ambient lighting include large pendants and sometimes even wall lights.

Where everyday activities take place 

Your household will already know exactly where these particular places are in your home — especially as ‘everyday activities’ can include the likes of reading, cooking and working.

In areas like these, you need what is referred to as task lighting. Good forms of task lighting can include floor, table and desk lamps, but you might already have a fair few items — like cooker hoods and vanity mirrors — that already incorporate lights of their own for ‘task lighting’ purposes.

Where you want to draw attention to specific items 

We probably all have, in our homes, particular features that you wouldn’t find in the average residential property. Maybe your home is a period property still sporting interior Victorian architecture, or you’ve recently hung up a few artwork pieces that would warrant special attention from visitors.

For (literally) shining a light on decorative pieces like these, you could invest in some recessed and hidden LED strips or perhaps some chandeliers. While on the subject of chandeliers…

Where the lighting looks ‘just right’  

“To be sure a ceiling fixture is large enough for your space, especially a chandelier, a quick guideline is to measure the length and width of the room,” designer Billy Ceglia explains to The Spruce. 

“Then add them together and convert to inches, and that will give a starting point for the ideal size for a light fixture. For example, a 36” wide fixture would be ideal for a 20 x 15 foot room.” While keeping this guidance in mind, you could opt for, say, vintage-style chandeliers if you have a period home.

Your porch or back garden 

If you use either space for outdoor entertaining, you should look for lighting that is not only — of course — outdoor-friendly but also built to emit a soft glow.

As revealed in a Real Simple article, subtle, indirect lighting can help to create the kind of restful mood from which outdoor spaces — like outdoor dining areas — would particularly benefit. Outdoor lanterns can work especially well in such open-air settings.