The forecast for 2009 and 2010 is a bit grim if you’re a house owner – falling house prices are causing a great concern for many people. Some property owners will find themselves in negative equity later this year or next year, if not already. Yet, there are methods to avoid this issue. The Answer : to add value to your property. How to do that? By giving your household a makeover. Do It Yourself / home improvements can add far greater value to your house than the actual cost of those improvements.

So where to start? A good place to start is to think about the rooms in your house that you use the least. It could be a utility room or an adjoining garage. Taking down a wall can turn such a rarely used room into an extended area for a kitchen or living room. Consider also your lighting and plumbing. A dimmer switch can change a bright, garish room into a warm, inviting living space – simply light transforming the room! Maybe your household doesn’t have a downstairs lavatory? Then get one installed where your utility room is – once more this can add much value to your property.

Possibly your 4 bedroomed house could be changed to 3 bedroom by knocking a wall down, and making a much bigger room. This may sound slightly strange, but in reality bigger rooms will give you a better sale value, and rather often individuals use a 4th bedroom purely as a room to store stuff in (meaning it’s not of great importance).

Next take a look at your garden. Is there a shed there? If this answer is no, consider installing one there. Why? Well, here is one place where you can stock all your gear that’s clogging up your spare bedroom / garage / utility room. Having a shed helps also with the gardening, and keen gardeners (read: your future home buyer) like a shed in their garden. Also do some gardening yourself! If your garden’s been ignored, then mow the grass, plant flowers, trim the lawn edges. Install some decking if you have some room. Just providing a drink to a prospective buyer out in your pleasant garden can really help sell the place – they feel comfortable in such surroundings – so it turns out that your garden can help sell your home, and add value to your property!

Where can you get help? Look online. A home improvement directory like homeandgardenlistings.co.uk has all kinds of home and garden websites listed there : including a directory of bathroom fitters, directory of builders, directory of plumbers, electricians, directory of general furniture suppliers, directory of bedroom furniture and beds suppliers etc.

These are just a few basic points on raising the cost of your house in these tough times, but hopefully this will get you thinking!

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 3rd, 2009 at 5:33 am and is filed under House Of Gardening, Real Estate Tips, World Of Home Improvement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.