If you are considering selling your home, you are probably thinking about which improvements will increase the value of the home. Updating your kitchen with granite countertops and matching stainless steel appliances are sound investments. Updating bathrooms can also increase the sale price of the house. These projects offer a great return on investment, but can be expensive up front. If you have a limited budget for improvements, consider investing in your garage. Garages are a major selling point for buyers, and even modest improvements can increase the value of your property.
Garages increase the assessment of your home by virtue of their existence. These structures count toward the total square footage of your home. Any square meter translates into added value for your appraisal. Also, the appraisal of your property will take into account the other houses in your neighborhood. If a garage is the norm in your neighborhood, you should have one, too. To a professional appraiser, the lack of a feature that other homes have means your home has less to offer. This may result in a reduction in value. In this situation, keeping up with the Joneses can pay off.
Fortunately, garage repairs and renovations are relatively inexpensive and offer a great return on investment. In fact, real estate professionals suggest that even small changes can make a difference in the value of your home. For example, you can recover almost 75 percent of the cost of new doors. Placing shelves on the walls for more storage space will also make the space more attractive. Real estate agents advise against adding drywall or cabinets, as these improvements do not offer a return on investment.
Garages can also be a turn off for a potential buyer. Organization experts say that homeowners who park their cars in the driveway or street instead of inside the garage are signaling to prospective buyers that the garage is being used for storage. This suggests that the house has little storage space. Rent an offsite storage facility if you need a place to store things during your move. Some real estate agents even suggest parking your cars elsewhere while showing the house to make the garage look bigger. In this case, you must clean up any spills or stains on the floor.
Also, the condition of the garage is important to buyers. If you have a free-standing structure that has fallen into disrepair, real estate agents advise you to invest some money to repair it. Tearing down the structure means you have no garage to advertise. Alternatively, you can leave the structure standing so that the new owners can avoid obtaining permits to build a replacement. However, this option will lower the sales price of your home. If you invest a little money to bring the structure up to par, you can list the property as having a carport and probably recoup your costs.
Deciding which improvement projects to undertake to prepare your home for sale is an important consideration. Garages have become even more of a selling point, so it’s important that yours is useful and practical. If you’re on a tight budget, upgrading your garage is a great way to get a return on your investment.
