How to increase the value of your home (without breaking the bank!)

If you’re looking to sell your home and achieve the best value possible, then you’ve come to the right place. Below is our go-to guide on how to increase the value of your home before you sell, without forking out for stressful and time-consuming home renovations.

Curious to see how much your home is worth? Use our free online valuation tool and receive your valuation instantly. From there, why not speak to a member of the team at Zoom995? We can talk to you about your situation and provide a free no-obligation full valuation at your earliest convenience by visiting your property.

If you’d like to then spend some time improving your home, using our guide below, we’d be more than happy to come back again so you can see the exact impact of your efforts! You can get in touch with the team today on 0333 358 3095.

10 ways to increase the value of your home

1. Declutter your home

Clutter has a huge and overwhelming effect on potential buyers, so it’s one of the most important things to tackle before viewings. It’s a relatively quick, cheap and easy way to increase the value of your home, and not only is it cheap, but you may actually make money from getting rid of what you no longer need or want.

Here’s what to do:

• Spend a day decluttering your home. Make sure to look in every nook and cranny, and remember viewers may wish to look in cupboards and storage areas, so there is nowhere to hide that clutter.
• Try the likes of Facebook Marketplace, Schpock or Gumtree to sell your old things; remember, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure, and if you can’t sell it, it’s not going to waste if you give it to a charity shop.
• If you can’t bear to part with your items ask a friend to keep them for you for a while or put them into storage until your house has been sold.
• If you have a small property, decluttering is especially important as your home needs to look like a liveable space. Remove coats taking up hall space, and small trinkets on the side. Too many knick-knacks are a big no-no when it comes to selling your home.
• The kitchen is the most valuable part of the property, so if you can remove bulky appliances such as microwaves, pots and pans, and hide any clutter that makes surfaces look smaller.
• If your house is large, try not to make the space look too vast and instead make it look homely with warm lighting and cosy blankets. It’s still important to declutter even if your home is big. You don’t want the property to look overwhelming to a potential buyer.
• Children’s toys: limit how many toys your children have out. Ask your children if they could select a certain number of toys each that they no longer use, such as 10 or 20 depending on how many they have, and sell these on or donate them.
• Aim to depersonalise your home. Replace large family photos with wall art, and remove large colourful statement pieces which are particular to your taste. Potential buyers need to be able to see themselves living in the property as their own home, not living in your home.

2. Tidy what hasn’t been decluttered

There’s decluttering, and then after comes tidying. This means everything should have its place.

• Use drawer organisers and other storage boxes and units to organise your belongings, you could even pick up a label maker and label each one.
• Tidy up your pantry, airing cupboard and other cupboards. Viewers are bound to want a sneaky look at what storage is on offer in their potential new home, after all storage is vital in any house. Once you’ve got rid of any unnecessary items, organise what’s left so the various items are easy to get to and look pleasing to the eye.
• Get storage containers for some of your dry pantry items like cereal, rice and oats. It makes them look much neater and will make your pantry more enticing to a potential buyer.
  Make sure the likes of bathroom items, clothes, children’s toys and pet items are neatly tidied away somewhere. If you’re lacking time, at least throw them in a box or drawer before viewers come round!

You can also get inspiration from Instagram and Pinterest on how to organise your home. Search hashtags such as #organizedhome for instance.

3. Clean each room

Before any viewings, clean until your home is sparkling. A hoovered and mopped/waxed floor makes a huge difference to the property’s appeal, so make sure you do this throughout; make beds, clean surfaces and dust and polish everywhere. Clean the windows, scrub the bathroom and kitchen from top to bottom and ensure the house has been dusted.

You can also put out fresh towels and fold away all laundry. Cleaning will make the house feel fresh and smell good and you’ll feel more confident in your home’s appeal if meeting any potential viewers face to face.

4. Refresh your property by painting

Consider painting your property for a cheap and relatively quick way of sprucing up your home.

• Whitewashing the property with white paint will give potential buyers a blank canvas to imagine how they would use the space if they were to move in.
• If you don’t want to use white, keep colours neutral.
• If you have any paint left from previously decorating, touch up any marks on the walls that may be obvious to a viewer.

5. Odd jobs

Most people have small jobs that need doing around the home, but with life being busy, most people haven’t got round to doing it by the time they put their house on the market.

Many buyers want to move in without making changes, so allow for this and get the jobs done as soon as possible, or get in a handyman to do it all in one day. This includes:

• fixing or filling a hole in a wall
• repairing any broken gates or fences
• fixing any broken door knobs, cracked tiles and torn or threadbare carpets

6. Consider the impact of your décor

Try your best to maintain a homely atmosphere as people don’t want to feel like they’re in a hotel room, even though it’s important to declutter and tidy.

As people are often buying into a lifestyle as much as a property, show them the attractive side of your lifestyle and how they could live it, especially for viewers who are less imaginative when it comes to home décor.

• Cover up any marks on the floor with a plain rug, or if your property is very large with a lot of hard flooring, rugs will give off a homely feel.
• If kitchen cupboards are poorly hung or dated, consider replacing the doors to give it an instant uplift, or repainting them to give them a fresh look.
• A relatively inexpensive way to make your kitchen look better is to upgrade any old or clashing kitchen appliances, especially if you’ve been looking to get new items anyway and you can bring them to your next home. White or stainless steel appliances look clean and neutral.
• While clutter is a big no-no, as are small knick-knacks, prettying up your home with some nice plants and flowers makes the room colourful and fresh and they can also smell wonderful. Take a look at Pinterest or Instagram for a Scandinavian look to give you some inspiration. A couple of candles or a nice fruit bowl can always complete the look.
• Make sure the windows are properly dressed with blinds or curtains as naked windows can make the property look like it’s not being lived in or is run down or impersonal.
• A quick change to your front door can also do wonders for your home’s overall appeal. Why not increase your chances of a sale by ensuring a potential buyers’ first experience is a welcoming one? An inexpensive way to give your front door new life is to paint it. If you have more cash in your budget, you can also spring for a complete door replacement.

7. Review and improve your outside space

Most viewers will want to see how they can enjoy the outside space, especially in spring and early summer, which is when people are likely to be looking at houses.

Create a checklist and be sure to:

• Cut bushes back
• Clean the patio and furniture of lichen and dirt
• Pull out weeds and mow the lawn
• Clear away any children’s toys or other unnecessary clutter and make the outside feel calming

8. Update your lighting

Bright and fresh properties sell much quicker, below are a few tips to bring the light into your home:

• Open the curtains and turn on the lights before a viewing.
• Consider adding more mirrors into your home. The light will not only reflect, making your home seem brighter, but the property will also look bigger. This is especially useful in small rooms and hallways.
• Clean windows inside and out, so as much light can come through as possible, and make sure you’ve replaced any broken light bulbs so they’re ready to turn on when a potential buyer comes around.
• Lamps are a fantastic way to make the property feel bigger and brighter and light up a dark corner, all while maintaining a homely, cosy feel and adding to the overall décor of the room.
• If you have a fireplace and it’s not a hot day, light the fire to add to the ambience during a viewing.
• Outdoor lighting gives an entirely different atmosphere to the outdoor space. Encourage viewers to come in the evening, perhaps for a second viewing, when you can show off how relaxing and cosy your home is with some warm outdoor lighting on your patio or decking. Festoon lighting and solar lights are always popular.
• Consider putting some warm lighting in the bathroom too, a room which often gets forgotten about when it comes to lighting. Viewers need to be able to imagine a bright and fresh bathroom in the morning, but a relaxing and calming bathroom in the evening while they’re having a bath and getting ready for bed.

9. Optimise your layout and storage

Most people rarely update the layout of the furniture in their home, and it often takes a fresh eye to see that a layout could work better another way round. Have a play about with your furniture and try them in different positions, with an aim to maximise space. You want to show that the whole home is accessible and free-flowing without bulky pieces of furniture getting in the way. Make sure there is always room to freely walk in the main areas. Why not get a friend around to help move the furniture and give their own opinion?

You may wish to replace large pieces of furniture with small ones to make the property look bigger. Or you may feel you have just invested in too much furniture and other items over the years.

Consider storing items at a friend’s or relative’s or even paying for storage for a short length of time in order to get the property sold more quickly and to increase your chances of achieving your asking price.

10. Leave it to us (timing)

At Zoom995 we’re the experts at selling property. We are trained to sell your property to potential buyers, highlighting the best parts and downplaying any less appealing aspects.

We find when sellers show viewers round their own property, they tend to immediately talk about its faults which would go completely unnoticed to potential buyers, while downplaying the fantastic features within their home. It helps to have a fresh pair of eyes like our estate agents who can see the wonderful aspects of your home.

We also know the local area inside out which means we know how your property compares to others on the market in the area. We are experts at using this and highlighting why it’s your property which needs to be bought over others, which will immediately increase the value of your property and create a bit of buzz and competition for your home.

We are well-equipped to answer any tricky questions potential buyers may have (you can bet we’ve heard them all before!), and give them peace of mind. The time of year your property is put on the market can also have an impact on the value of your home, so leave it to us to give you the best advice about when to sell.

Looking to sell your property?

If you are ready to sell your property, discover why you should sell your home with Zoom995, and get in touch today.

For more inspiration on how to improve your property, read our blog.