How to increase the value of your home: Strategies for increasing value

BI verified the ownership claims of both investors.

1. Focus on the kitchen and bathroom

Dana Bull, a real estate investor, broker and consultant from Massachusetts, bought her first property for $200,000 in 2012. Two and a half years later, after investing about $10,000 in the apartment, she made a tidy profit: “I made about $50,000,” she told BI. That’s a return on investment of about 20 percent.

It helped that the market was really taking off at the time, she said, but her upgrades, which included new appliances, countertops and paint, certainly played a role.

If you’re thinking about selling your home and looking for ways to increase its value, there are two rooms to focus on, she said: “Kitchens and bathrooms in particular sell homes. That’s generally where you get the highest ROI.”

You may not have the budget for a full $30,000 kitchen renovation, she noted, “but maybe you have $10,000 to spare and you can reglaze your kitchen cabinets so they’re white, or add some trim or add new knobs. All of those will increase the value.”

2. Pay attention to the little things, like color and furniture arrangement

Bull’s favorite trick is to spend a few hundred dollars on a consultation with a decorator or designer, especially if you’re working on a tight budget. They’ll tell you things like what color to use or where to put certain furniture, and then you can do those things yourself.

“When you’re on a budget, the biggest thing you can’t afford to do is make mistakes,” she said. Of course, having a professional redo your entire space can be expensive, “but you don’t need someone to redo your whole house. You can pay someone $150 to help you pick out colors, and getting the color right is one of the best ways to increase value.”

She does this every time she buys a new property. It’s the “best money you can spend,” she says. Go to your local paint store and ask if they have a designer or color consultant who can help you choose the color specifically for your home. You can also work with a virtual design company that creates interior mockups. They will recommend what type and size of furniture you should buy and where to place it to enhance your space.

If you’re not a true design expert, it’s often worth paying a professional, she said: “I’m a real estate agent. I have a general sense of design, but ultimately my area of ​​expertise is negotiation and transactions. There are people who have dedicated their lives to learning layout, proportions and colors.”

If you don’t want to work with a professional decorator, a good rule of thumb is to stick to neutral colors that make a room feel light and airy.

“You can’t go wrong with light and cleanliness,” she said.

3. Let the location do all the work

Atif Afzal bought his first property in Monroe, New York in 2019. Over the next few years, he purchased three more in the same area for $200,000 to $218,000.

Homes comparable to those he bought in 2019 and 2020 are now selling for $340,000 to $350,000, he told BI: “If I average my purchase price at about $210,000 per property, that’s about a 61 percent increase in value at a current value of about $340,000.”

Afzal, a full-time film composer and singer-songwriter, has done little to nothing with his real estate (he prefers to buy townhouses in excellent condition), but he picked a good market. He liked Monroe primarily because of its location. It’s about 50 miles north of New York City and an easy commute to and from Manhattan by train.

The company also passed his “Zillow test,” which looks at how quickly homes sell or rent in different markets. He added, “I never want to be stuck in a situation where I can’t sell a property, so I analyze it based on how quickly it rents or sells.”

If homes sit on the market for a while, that could be a red flag. However, if they sell or rent quickly, that’s a good sign that buyers are interested in the area.