The Best Home Improvement Projects for You

If you’re exploring home improvement options, you know there are a lot of tips out there. But there are most likely just two reasons that you would be researching major home improvement projects: You either want to improve your home, or you absolutely need to improve your home. If either of the above reasons apply to you, you could benefit from some home improvement tips from Lennar Mortgage’s home improvement experts. Here are the best ways to improve your home whether you’re moving or simply improving your current living situation.

Reason 1: You Want to Improve Your Home

If you want to improve your home, you most likely aren’t selling it—you just want to better your living space, add some exciting new features, and make things more enjoyable for your family. These home improvements might not add a ton of value to your home, but they’re worth pursuing simply for a better quality of life. Here are some common home improvements for this situation.

New home features

You have a couple teenagers in your family, but just one bathroom. It goes without saying that the morning bathroom situation is extremely chaotic. To improve the morning routines of each family member—not to mention their sanity—you’re looking into building a new bathroom. In this situation, you and your whole family would benefit from another bathroom, it doesn't matter if it generates a high return on investment or even decreases the value of your home (which is unlikely). If you have the money to add a new bathroom and aren’t looking to move, you should add the bathroom and not worry about the overall value to your home—just the value to your quality of life.

New recreational features

You love grilling up some meat every weekend, but your sprawling backyard is missing a barbecue patio. If you can picture yourself installing and actually using a custom-built natural gas grill, you should look into installing it. Here, return on investment shouldn’t be your biggest concern. You should be more worried about improving your lifestyle. Many recreational home features can be compared to purchasing a depreciating asset like a nice car or dirt bike. If a barbecue is installed to a patio in a very nice neighborhood—but the installation destroys the entire backyard in the process—you might not get a very good return on investment. In fact, there’s a good chance that very little of the actual cost of installing a barbecue will be recouped in a sale. If you feel like you’d benefit from installing a pool, go ahead and do it. But it’s worth checking with a real estate professional first to make sure you understand the potential consequences of installing a pool. It might actually lower your property value and make your home more difficult to sell later on. Even if you’re not planning on moving right now—or ever—it’s worth knowing how any home improvement projects will affect your home’s cost and sellability in case your plans eventually change. If you’ve already done some preparation, you won’t be surprised upon putting your home up for sale.

Reason 2: You Need to Improve Your Home

If you need to improve your home, you’re most likely selling it. With some home improvement projects, you can actually make your property more marketable, maximize return, minimize loss, and speed up the sales process. A good real estate agent can walk you through the possible home improvement projects that will attract more potential buyers. Ideally, a real estate agent-approved project will pay for itself either through increasing home value or shortening the time it takes to sell the house. Typical projects include the following:

• Roof repair or replacement
• New paint, either because the existing paint is in bad shape or is an unusual color
• New carpet because the existing carpet is old or a strange color or style.
• Driveway or sidewalk repair or resurfacing
• Kitchen cabinet facelift
• Landscape trimming or beautifying

It might not seem too appealing to spend thousands of dollars on home improvement right before your house goes on the market. But these investments often pay for themselves, whether through higher home selling prices or shorter sale time. No matter the type of home improvement projects you’re looking to do, it’s important to consult with an experienced real estate agent. They’ll give you time-tested advice on the home improvement projects that will increase your property’s value for a sale, or simply help improve your quality of life.