How to add value to your House.

Consider this… You’ve bought a property, you’ve maybe even lived in it for a couple years and now its time to move on. You’re ready to start taking the steps to sell your property. Naturally you stop and think to yourself “, How can I get the most out my property” or “How can I increase my properties value.” However when answering these questions with yourself it is important to understand these 2 terms:

•         Perceived Value
•         Actual Value

What is Perceived Value?

Perceived Value is what the market (buyers) sees in the property.  With that being said , things like a good paint job, modern kitchen, aluminium window and door frames and other cosmetic upgrades would increase the perceived value of the property.

What is Actual Value?

This is what the appraisers and the Bank care about. Unfortunately they don’t care much for modern kitchens and aluminium window frames. The actual value is determined by appraisers and Banks.

So what does all this mean?

When you are thinking about increasing the value of your property you need to remember this. Cosmetics and improvements do not add value to the property. They do however add perceived value. This means that if you have a R2 000 000 property and you do up the kitchen with R300 000, your property is not worth R2 300 000. Unfortunately it is still only worth R2 000 000. However , when you do up the kitchen you are increasing the perceived value and that means your R2 000 000 property will sell way faster.

But how do you increase the value?

This all comes down to what the appraisers are looking for. Extra living space, add a room, convert a garage into a room, if you have space in the roof create a loft or office space. Adding square metres adds value. For example if property in your area sells at R10 000 per square metre , you can add a room of 4m X 3m (=12sqm) you would have effectively added R120 000 to your appraisal (actual) value.

Notes:

If you want to sell your property fast and at its actual value you need to make sure it is up to date with the current finishes. But remember, updating these finishes does not add value to the property at the end of the day.

If you want to add value to the property look for ways to add square metres to living space. By converting low value areas such as basements, attics, garages into higher value spaces such as bedrooms, offices, bathrooms etc. Or by simply adding extensions.