Easy Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home

Great Article from Barbara Corcoran & The Nate Berkus Show Website!

Learn from real estate guru Barbara Corcoran easy ways to increase the value of your home.
Five Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home

1. Lighten it. Light is the second reason (after location) most buyers site for choosing a particular home. Repaint in light, neutral colors that reflect light, up the wattage in light bulbs, put fresh white lampshades on your lamps, remove heavy drapes, wash the windows, and trim any plantings and trees that obstruct light. When you take photos of your home for the listing, rent professional lighting equipment (COST: $50).

2. Improve your home’s curb appeal, in real life and online. Give your home the 15 second test: drive up to your house, park, get out and look at your home from the buyer’s perspective. What do you see? Most buyers decide if they WON’T buy your home within the first 15 seconds, so fix everything you see in that time! Trim bushes, paint the front door and mailbox, steam clean the driveway and walkways, edge the lawn and mulch the flower beds.

3. De-clutter. Potential buyers can’t see past clutter. Pack or store two-thirds of your things, including your furniture. Be sure to remove personal objects like family photos and children’s artwork, put half your clothes in storage, hide all electrical cords and wiring and get rid of unhealthy plants.

4. Update your kitchen. A minor kitchen remodel can make your whole house feel modern. Replace cabinet doors and update drawer pulls and knobs. Countertops and backsplashes can be the least expensive improvements to make, and they’ll make your kitchen look up to the minute.

5. Improve your bathroom. Let’s face it, nobody wants to move into your bathroom! Re-grout the tile and tub, buy new bath towels and shower liner and replace the toilet seat.

Four Ways to Make Your Home Look More Valuable

1. Make your home look bigger.You can do that by de-cluttering, getting rid of about a third of your furniture, adding light, taking home photos with a wide angle lens and from a low position looking up, and adding “up lights” in the corners of rooms.

2. Buy one shiny new appliance for the kitchen.You can get a fancy looking stainless steel Maytag refrigerator for only about $800, or buy floor or close our models for an even bigger discount. (COST: $800 to $3,000)

3. Adding crown or decorative wall molding to your living and dining room walls raises the ceiling and gives a finished, sophisticated look.

4. Get your home professionally staged before putting it on the market. A savvy professional stager knows just how to make the most of the home you have.

Biggest Improvement for the Least Amount of Money

Paint your front door. Spending $30 an a gallon of paint will make your home look fresh, well kept and welcoming. Or even replace it – Remodeling Magazine’s 2009-2010 “Cost vs. Value Report” found that a new steel front door, which costs about $1,170, will recoup 128% of the cost when it’s time to sell!



Barbara Corcoran is the real estate contributor to NBC’s "Today Show " where she comments weekly on trends in the real estate market. Barbara is also an investor/shark on ABC’s reality hit "Shark Tank." To learn more about Barbara, visit her website, http://barbaracorcoran.com.