With the constant fluctuation in interest rates, making improvements that will raise the overall value of your home is a wise investment. Sure, you may be thinking that, since you have no immediate plans to sell your home, why should you bother? The fact is that increasing the market value of your home could still be beneficial to yourself, your partner, or your children in the future.
Houses don’t end up on the market solely due to the homeowner relocating. When a relationship fails, some couples will choose to sell their property and split the profits. The same is true if you were to pass away with several children listed in your will. Also, as people approach retirement and become empty nesters, they often decide to downsize.
Now these situations may never occur in your life, or you may not encounter any of these circumstances for another ten to fifteen years. Nevertheless, it’s still a smart move to make improvements that will increase the value of your home even if you end up living there forever and the only thing that winds up increasing is your level of comfort.
1. Invest in Materials That Will Last
Ok, it’s a known fact that mobile homes are subject to destruction during storms, and wood attracts termites that can lead to thousands of dollars in damage. That’s why when you invest in having a home built or remodeling your current home, you should select long-lasting materials. For instance, when it comes to choosing roofing materials, metal roofs are the most sustainable and can last between 40 and 70 years depending upon the specific material.
2. Make Sure to Keep Up with Your Landscaping
Your home may be beautifully designed on the inside, but if the exterior portion of your property has an overgrown lawn and is cluttered with junk and rusty pick-up trucks, the value of your property is going to be depleted. When a prospective home buyer (or even an out-of-town guest) views your home, the very first thing that they’ll notice is your yard.
No, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to have a green thumb or hire a professional landscaping company (although that may be a good investment). It simply means that you need to take proper care of your yard. While planting some flowers and shrubbery to add character to your yard is a good idea, regular mowing and watering can be sufficient. It is recommended by experts that lawns should ideally receive one inch of watering each watering season.
3. Have an Accessible Entrance to Your Home
As mentioned earlier, certain home improvements can be useful even if you or your descendants never decide to sell. Accessible entrances are one such improvement. Although you may optimistically avoid considering the possibility that you will ever require a walker or wheelchair, the reality is that physical health declines with age and you never know what tomorrow holds. Accessibility also means that an aging relative may be able to reside in the home in lieu of moving into a nursing facility.
Since more than 20 million people with disabilities who are over the age of eighteen (this is 7.1% of disabled individuals who are not institutionalized) experience difficulty with walking or climbing stairs, having an easily accessible entrance to your home would increase the desirability of your property and significantly increase your home’s market value if you ever were to sell.
Making home improvements can add to the current comfort level of your family, relatives, and visitors. Additionally, if you were to eventually sell your property, these improvements could substantially increase the amount of money you receive from the sale. Many people invest in stocks and lottery tickets when the best investment a person could make is in their own home.