The Cash Trio

The outlook for the next few years is a little grim if you’re a house owner – decreasing house prices are making many people worry. Some house owners will actually experience negative equity shortly, if not already. All the same, there are means to head off this issue. The Answer : to add value to your property. How? By giving your household a makeover. DIY / home improvements can contribute 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 least used rooms in your property. It could be a utility room or an adjoining garage. Knocking down a wall can transform such a rarely used area into a kitchen or living room extension which can bring a great deal of value to your property. Also look at the electrics and plumbing. Dimmer switches can transform ugly bright rooms into cosy, warm rooms just via a dimmer dial – simply light transforming the room! Perhaps your household doesn’t have a downstairs lavatory? Then get one installed where your utility room is – once more this can add a great deal of value to your house.

Maybe your 4 bedroomed house could be converted to 3 bedroom by ripping a wall down, and making a much larger room. This may sound a tad counter-intuitive, but in reality bigger rooms will make you a higher sale value, and rather often people use a 4th bedroom strictly 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 in the garden. Why? Well, here is one place where you can stash away all your stuff that’s congesting up your garage / utility room / spare bedroom. Sheds encourage gardening also, and enthusiastic gardeners (read: your future home buyer) like a garden with a shed. Also do some gardening yourself! If your garden’s been disregarded, then mow the lawn, plant some flowers, trim the lawn edges. Also consider installing decking. Just offering a drink to a future buyer out in your pretty garden can really make the place sell itself – 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 advice? Look online. A home and garden 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 fundamental tips on raising the cost of your property in these tricky times, but we hope this will spur you into some action!