Home Improvement Can Increase the Value of a Home
Once you have been in your own home for a fair length of time, it is only natural that your thoughts veer towards home improvement. This can become necessitated due to changes in the family, improved economic conditions, the need to go in for better facilities, or change in health conditions.
The First Steps
Call for a family meeting and announce your intention to go in for some form of home improvement. Ask every member to suggest improvements or changes that are desired in the home. Discuss each one and come down to a list of the ones that are largely acceptable.
You then need to decide on the way these home improvements will be carried out and priorities for various areas. Home improvements can be carried out through the DIY route or by getting in professionals to carry out the work. Doing it yourself can be very satisfying and economical, but such improvements are likely to take a much longer time, as most such work is only carried out over weekends and in spare time from normal careers. Professionals will do a much more satisfactory job, though it can be expensive. If you are planning to bring in professionals, give them your list of proposed home improvements and ask them to indicate costs and time frames. If you are planning to do it yourself, you need to make a complete list of required materials and have this list valued out at your local home improvement store.
The final budget, whichever the construction route, then needs to be looked at . See whether you can arrange the necessary financing to see the project through. This will have to come from your own savings or other means of raising funds. Where homes have built up a substantial equity from mortgages, a second mortgage is an easy alternative. Just be sure that you will be able to meet the extra monthly installments that such a second mortgage will entail. The process of obtaining the second mortgage can also take a bit of time.
Home Improvements Increase Property Value
When you add to the facilities in a home and arrange to put in the latest fittings, it can add to the value of a home. Adding a gazebo or conservatory makes for very substantial additions to livable space as well. One very popular item in home improvements is converting basements into play and family areas. Redoing the yard and improving the landscaping can also help to increase the value of a home, and if you put in a swimming pool, your social status will also get greatly enhanced.
Home improvements can come from rearranging furniture or going in for new or added pieces. Change the upholstery as part of your improvement scheme, and the look in your home can immediately change. This can also be achieved by repainting walls, papering them or adding wainscoting.
Before you go in for home improvement remove all the clutter in your home, the basement and attics. Adding paintings or other artwork like sculptures can also add in home improvement.
Installing lifts or adding ramps and other elderly friendly measures are a common form of home improvement, that families have to look at, as the members in them go closer to old age, and need such aids.
Make sure that the home improvement you decide on adds value to the home and makes it one that is far more useful. Examine the safety aspect of each improvement, so that the children and the elderly are never at risk.
