How to Value Your Home Renovations
Every weekend, you’ve been binge watching home renovations shows. One morning, after taking a quick reno-binge break to enjoy a cup of coffee on the front porch, you notice your neighbours beginning to renovate their house. You think to yourself, ‘’should we start some renovations?’’ Now, only if you knew where to begin…
Well, lucky for you – we’re here to illuminate the way! In other words, we’ll let you know how you can value renovations, recover a high return on investment and which renovations bring the highest enjoyment into your life. Let’s begin!
The return on investment for completing home renovations is valued in three ways:
- Increasing the value of your property;
- Enjoying the renovated space;
- And, maintaining the worth of your property.
Top Five Home Renovations with the Highest Return on Investment
Think big! Think bold! But, most importantly, think what’s my neighbourhood up to? Besides the obvious of using quality materials and skillful workmanship, you want your renovations to be consistent with homes in your neighbourhood. It may not come as a surprise, but the two areas in your home that’ll give you the highest return on investment is renovating the kitchen and bathroom(s). Next, for those budget conscious homeowners, simply repainting the interior and exterior of your home (completed in tones that offer a wide-range of market appeal) is the third renovation with top dollar. In addition, updating the décor of your home will go along way. For instance, replacing lighting and plumbing fixtures, countertops, worn flooring or refinishing hardwood floors. Lastly, declutter your home. You want to showcase the wonderful features of your home, which means removing excess items.
Top 5 Home Renovations with the Highest Enjoyment Value
How can you enjoy your basement if it’s cold, cement-ey, and creepy? Can’t drive into your garage because your bike, kayak, snowboard, and hockey gear have claimed your driving spot? What about Nancy always peeping over your small fence to say what’s going on? Sound familiar? You can probably guess the top renovations with the highest enjoyment value, but if you can’t, here they are (chronologically):
- Basement finishing
- Garage
- Sun Rooms / Additions
- Decks / Fences
- Landscaping
Top 5 Home Renovations to Maintain Worth
If you routinely maintain your home over the years, the economic life of the structure will last well into the future – like 75 years +. A general rule of thumb is if you haven’t replaced it in 20 years, it’s probably time you do so. In no particular order, here are the top 5 renovations to maintain the worth of your home:
- Replacing the roofing
- Updating the heating / cooling system
- Replacing windows and doors
- Updating the electrical (panel, wiring, sockets, fixtures)
- Repairing structural defects
To sum up, once you’ve carefully thought about your renovation, an appraiser from TRA can assist you in understanding how your renovation project contributes to the overall value of the property.