5 Creative Tips on How to Increase Home Value

Moving into the home of your dreams is an exciting moment for any new homeowner. Between raising a family, parties in the backyard, lazy Sundays on the couch, and adventurous outings, your first home will experience many of life’s events right along with you, transforming gradually over time as you and your family continue to grow.

Adding value to your home can include any of your particular preferences. You can hang family photos, decorate with houseplants, or replace the medicine cabinet with a stylish mirror for instant upgrades around the house. But, for homeowners hoping to increase their home’s value in a way that is more impactful in the long run, there are much bigger projects that will provide more value for you when the time comes to sell.

Here’s how to increase your home’s value with five, unique tips that will make your house standout in your market and community.

Add Smart Technology

We know that swapping out an old dishwasher for an energy-efficient alternative instantly adds value to a home. But these days, homeowners seem to be going the extra mile, outfitting their houses with smart technology that controls everything from light switches to window blinds.

According to a 2019 design forecast published by Zillow, smart home technology was a top search among homebuyers online—and for good reason. Smart technology has gradually evolved to more than just voice-activated hubs in the kitchen and cameras at the front door. Now, there are more ways than ever to integrate smart devices into a home that are incredibly useful without being invasive.

You can control the look and feel of your home with smart light bulbs from Philips Hue and smart switches like the Ecobee Switch+. Swap out old power strips with smart plugs that connect to wifi, for remote control of lights and monthly reports on energy usage. Integrate smart technology into your home’s climate control with brands like Nest for an easy way to increase home value.

Subtle upgrades to things like light switches, window blinds, and climate control will give you an advantage in the real estate market, can help ease the daily grind, and add value to your home in a big way.

Go Green With Your Yard

Like smart technology, going green is a big trend with homeowners and homebuyers. While it’s great to make environmentally-friendly improvements to the areas of our homes that use the most energy, we often overlook the place where going green is the most obvious, if not ironic – the front yard.

Replace high-maintenance plants with plants that are native to your area. Not only will native plants require less watering and be less prone to disease and pests, this is a cheap way to increase home value and introduce long-term, environmentally-friendly improvements into your community. You can also install a rain barrel to irrigate your flowers and plants naturally without drawing from groundwater sources.

Eco-friendly improvements are a great way to increase home value and equip future owners with the means to continue environmentally-productive practices long after your home goes on the market.

Reface and Paint Kitchen Cabinets

Real estate trends have shown that the most impactful investment a homeowner can make is a kitchen remodel. And while most remodels will cost you a pretty penny, there are relatively cheap ways to increase home value and give your kitchen a refresh.

Instead of replacing cabinets entirely, simply refacing them is enough to transform outdated looking cabinetry. If you’re a gifted DIY’er, you may even be able to do the work yourself, replacing cabinet doors, hinges, and hardware over the course of a weekend and cut costs there as well.

If the thought of refacing cabinets gets you stressed, keep in mind that homeowners that took on moderate kitchen upgrades saw, on average, an 80% return on their investment, according to Nerdwallet. You don’t have to replace countertops or install expensive stone floors to achieve a new look and increase home value. In many cases, simply varying cabinet shades, upgrading lights and appliances, and swapping outdated hardware is enough to add value to a home without breaking the bank.

Paint the Living Room Taupe and the Front Door Black

A splash of paint goes a long way in the kitchen, as well as in the living room, bathroom, bedroom, even the front door. Paint is a cheap way to increase home value. But that’s not to say that you should go ahead and paint every room in your house just any old color.

According to a study conducted by Zillow in 2018, homeowners could increase home value simply by painting different rooms of their house with specific shades. Taupe walls in the living room, for example, increased home value by $2,793, while homes with black or charcoal front doors sold for nearly $6,000 more than homes with a front door in a light color.

Strategic home improvements are not only what adds value to a home in an immediate sense, they also make it possible to receive a greater return in the future and financially prepare for the next set of life’s events.

Create a Reading Nook or a Quiet Space

An unexpected, yet cost-effective way to gain the interest of buyers and increase home value is instead to designate a reading nook, or create a quiet space for things like yoga and meditation. Creating a reading nook is a great way to fill those areas of a house that may otherwise remain empty.

Install a bench below a window, or on a staircase landing for impromptu reading sessions. You can even go a step further and use composite doors, instead of hollow, to introduce immediate soundproofing and transform an unused room into a full-fledged at-home yoga studio. You’ll increase home value in a unique way and reap the benefits of quiet reflection in the meantime.

What adds value to your home can be subjective and definitely personal, but there are some tried-and-true improvements you can do to benefit your home today and set it up for success in the future.