Simple Ways to Improve Your Home’s Value

Odds are if you are a homeowner you are always fixing, maintaining, or redoing something with your house.  With today’s home market steadily growing, it is a great idea to make changes to your home that help increase its value.  There are many ways to go about doing this, but these 5 tips are a great start for the average do-it-yourselfer.
Energy Efficient Appliances
When you make the decision to start improving your home, it would be wise to evaluate the condition of your current appliances.  One way to improve your home’s value is to invest in energy efficient appliances.  Compared to their standard counterparts, Energy Star rated appliances use on average about 15-20% less energy.  All Energy Star rated appliances not only save you money for years to come, but if you decide to sell your home, it may be considered energy efficient, and this could make your home more attractive to potential buyers and increase your asking price.
Painting
Painting your home both inside and out is an excellent way to improve the overall look of your home.  If you are willing to put the time and effort in to do it yourself, painting is a very budget friendly way you can improve your home’s value. If you decide you want to paint your home, you need to figure out a color scheme for the entire house, not just a fresh coat for the living room.  As far as the outside of your house is concerned, it would be a great idea to paint your doors and your deck and shutters.  Adding paint to many parts of your home helps improve the overall look and this will help in increasing your home’s value.
Add LED Lighting
Many homeowners are unaware of the benefits that lighting makes for their home, and that proper lighting can in fact help improve how much a house is worth.  The addition of nice lighting ties together your newly painted rooms.  LED lights are a great idea, and they offer numerous benefits.  LED’s last about 40,000 hours and use only a tenth of the energy that standard incandescent bulbs use.  LED’s are able to produce a great amount of light as well.  A 4 or 5 watt LED puts out the same amount of light as a standard 60 watt bulb.  A well lit room is more welcoming and feels more spacious.  This is a great way to improve the value of your home for a small investment.
Replacing Hardware
What most homeowners don’t think of when improving the look and value of their home, is replacing the hardware on doors, cabinets, and other various places.  As long as you can use a screwdriver, this is another easy DIY project.  Believe it or not, replacing hardware can yield a big return on investment.  Having nice, matching hardware can completely change the look of your home.  If you painted your bathroom and added LED lighting, the new faucets and handles on your sink will really look nice.
Landscaping
Upgrading your lawn and yard is a great way to help improve your home’s value.  Having a landscaping crew upgrade your property can be very costly.  If you are a DIY homeowner, there are many things you can do if you’re willing to put in the time and effort.  In the real estate world, first impressions are everything.  Having a well maintained lawn is very important because it is the first thing people will see.  A neatly kept yard along with a few bushes and flowers will make your property stand out.  This is a really big aspect of improving the value of your property.
For the average do it yourself homeowner, these ideas can be great weekend projects.  For a small investment of time and money, you will be able to take pride in knowing you are making your home more valuable.  If you decide to sell your home it will look very attractive to potential buyers, but if you keep it, you will have a great house for many years to come.
If you are looking to improve your home, it is very important that you have proper homeowner’s insurance coverage.  Contact the professionals at Ion Insurance for a quote today.