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5 ways to increase your home value

By chris | December 17, 2010

Let’s face it, property values continue to slope it has become more and more of a buyers market, not so much a sellers market anymore.

There are several things you can do to make your home stand out and gain value to the potential home buyers in this time of price decline.

Fresh coat of paint

Paint is very is one of the cheapest improvements you can make to your home. If you have bright vibrant colors in your home, I suggest toning the colors down to appeal to a wider range of home buyers. Go with neutral warm colors, they sell its a fact. Weather painting a small room or a huge room you will need the necessities. A small and large paint brush, a small and large paint roller, and lets not forget a gallon bucket. If you hate painting like I do you may want to try to barter your stuff with a painter like we did.

Energy-Efficiency Upgrades

Did you know that by replacing your old refrigerator with a new energy star one can save you more than $100 per year on your electric bill. Imagine how more appealing your home would be if you could share those facts with the home buyer about all your appliances. Currently the government is offering a rebate on Energy-Efficient Appliances. Do your due diligence, I think the rebate runs out as of Jan 1, 2011, so you must hurry to take advantage of this…

Install new fixtures

Most of this can be a DIY project. You can easily replace your sink faucets, shower heads, change out the dated brass and upgrade to stainless steel or aluminum. If you don’t feel comfortable jumping in and getting your hands dirty there are several videos on youtube that can teach you how to change just about any fixture you can imagine, not to mention the experts at Lowes and Home Depot can steer you in the right direction. They usually offer free classes. Contact your local Lowes and Home Depot to find out when their next class is. I’ve noticed that just about any fixture you can dream of is available online, and cheaper, sometime with free shipping. Take a trip down to Lowes and discover your perfect faucet,toilet, shower, etc, then head back home and search amazon for it. I guarantee you more than likely will at least save $20 or more on it.

Curb Appeal

Lets face it, if the home buyers don’t like the outside of your home you have no chance of getting them through the front door where they can feel your home out. Its very important that your yard be well maintained, bushes trimmed, no trash in the yard. The same applies to your neighbors yards surrounding your house. Its a fact your neighbor can make or break a deal. If you haven’t already, make buddies with your neighbors. Volunteer to help them out with their not so hot yard. By improving their yard, your increasing your homes value and your neighborhoods worth.

Switch out color of outlets and light switches

If you live in an older home, your light switches may not be white. In my case they were a tan color. I made it a point to upgrade plugins in each room as I painted the room. White looks fresh and new, tan looks old and used. This is simple and inexpensive. You can get a 10 pack of outlets covers onAmazon for only $7.99. Light switch covers cost about the same depending on if you need single or double switch cover plates. If you really want to do it right replace the recpticle and cover plate.