I was torn about whether to do this here or the First Home group ... I'll do it here!

What do you think adds value to houses (in your opinion)?  Staging a house aside, what do YOU think adds value?  High-end ppliances?  Countertops?  Flooring?  Developed basements?  Patios/decks?

What are you willing to do yourself, vs. already having it in the house when you buy (or paying someone after taking possession)?

Appliances, Counters/Shelving/Flooring, Decks/Fence/ Yard Treatment

It depends on how easy the project is - Fence/Yard Treatment we could do ourselves. But we had our deck built by a professional, and I would have a pro come in and do counters/shelving as well.

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DH and I made a list of the what we would like to have in a house - this is different from what we need (certain square footage, amount of BR, BA, etc.) Our "want" list reads like the list you posted above:

• new appliances
• hardwood floors and real tile (or at least new carpet)
• finished basement
• granite or other high end countertops
• fenced yard (only because we have a dog)
• other backyard features: deck/patio, shed

There are other "wants," but they're pretty hard to add to a pre-existing house. We desperately want a fireplace and a master suite with a walk-in closet, but if homes don't come with those, it takes some major work to install.

Kitchens & bathrooms tend to sell houses!!  So, I think upgraded/current kitchens and bathrooms are necessary.  For us that meant: stainless steel appliances, granite, nice flooring (we have hardwood in the kitchen and are beginning our bathroom tiling project tomorrow).  Also, people always look for adequate living space & we are lucky to have both a living room & a family room, some day we would like to remodel the basement and have even more living space.

We have DIY'd everything except our granite.  If we ever finish the basement we will DIY some & hire pros for the tough stuff!  We still need to finish our back landscaping as well & DH will DIY that (hopefully this summer).

We live in a condo and haven't really done anything to increase the value of our home - but we did invest in an "upgrade" package for our kitchen. We have granite countertops and stainless steal appliances which will likely double the "investment" we made in upgrading those features. Another upgrade we made was to purchase a condo on the ground level that has a backyard. We have a nice small patch of grass and a wrap around patio that's fantastic for entertaining. We hope those will be great differentiators when the time comes for us to sell our condo.

I was told when we added our fireplace to the basement it added an extra $15000 to our house value also.

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These are all really good points.  I think recently rennovated places can add value.  ie. changing carpets to wooden flooring gains a huge increase to value here... and new bathrooms, kitchens etc...

I'm not sure on appliances though because people often take them with when they move.  In the UK the amount of square footage always adds value, so if you can ever add an extension, or knock something out to make more room then that'll help the value go up.

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