The Short Answer
You can’t control everything about a home appraisal, but there are certain areas you can control. With a little extra time and money spent on the home, before the appraisal process takes place, you could increase your home’s market value more than you thought possible.
A few oversights, though, and you could ruin your home’s value just like that – not the outcome you are hoping for when putting money into the property. Understanding how appraisals work and what increases the value of your home when doing an appraisal is important before you make any real estate decisions.
Some of the easiest ways to improve your home’s appraisal value are:
- A fresh coat of paint
- Fixing broken flooring
- Decluttering and organizing
- Creating good curb appeal
- Making minor kitchen and bathroom upgrades
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How Appraisers Determine A Home's Value
A home appraiser uses a variety of factors when determining a home’s value, and this is where you want to focus your attention first. They look at your home, inside and out, but they also look at comparable sales in the area. Comparable sales are homes located within a short distance (usually 1 mile) that sold within the last six months.
A home appraiser will look at factors you can’t change (square footage, location, lot size, age of the home, number of bedrooms, and bathrooms). They also look at many factors you can control, and when done right could increase the value of your home appraisal.
Appraisers compare the value they come up with for your home after inspecting it to the most recent sales in the area. If your home is ‘better’ than the comparable sales, the home appraiser increases its appraised value. If your home has more negative aspects than the recently sold homes, the appraiser decreases the appraised value.
12 Ways To Increase The Value Of Your Home Appraisal
Fortunately, there are several ways you can increase the value of your home. Here are our top 12 ways to increase the value of your home appraisal that are a surefire way to make your home look better, increase the value and attract more prospective buyers.
1. A fresh coat of paint
It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do for a home, especially older homes. If your walls look worn and the house looks tired, give it a fresh coat of neutral paint and watch it transform the home’s aesthetic.
A fresh coat of paint can give a house a facelift, and allow a prospective buyer to envision themselves living in the house, if the colors are neutral. Painting the house won’t cost you an arm and a leg, and it will likely add to the home’s appeal and, for older homes, make it look newer.
2. Clean the carpets
Just as clean, fresh walls make a home more appealing, so do clean carpets. Take the time to shampoo the carpets or pay a professional to do it. For those with pets, this is particularly important, as pets tend to leave odors in the carpet as well as dirty the carpets. A professional carpet clean will make them look and smell much better.
Clean carpets and fresh walls give the home a cleaner and more appealing appearance. This should be done before the home appraisal is done, and before the home is listed or photographed.
3. Fix broken flooring
If you can’t afford to replace broken flooring, it’s a good idea to at least fix the areas of largest concern, especially any dangerous areas. Carpet corners sticking up, missing or broken floor tiles are important areas to focus on if the carpets or floors cannot be replaced. The first prize however, is new flooring for the home.
4. Make minor repairs
If anything is obviously wrong with the home, this is the time to fix it. Leaking faucets, holes in walls, broken handrails, and broken screens are all factors that take away from a home’s value. These repairs cost only a little but have an impressive effect on your home’s appraised value.
A home that requires a lot of minor repairs can look, overall, as if it’s in much worse condition than it is. Pay attention to the small repairs, and get these fixed, to improve the general condition of the home and the home’s appraised value.
5. Declutter and organize
An organized home isn’t worth more than an unorganized home, but if the appraiser can’t get to certain areas of the home, it could affect the home’s value. Not only that, but clutter and disorganization make a home look less inviting and don’t lend themselves to a high home appraisal value.
Decluttering each room of the house, step by step, will allow you to throw away unused items and create a space that is more inviting. Along with the interior, the yard should also be cleaned up and decluttered to allow for the home appraiser’s very first view of the home to be more positive. This will also improve the home’s curb appeal, which we’ll outline next.
6. Create great curb appeal
You don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression. Clean up your landscaping, cut the lawn, and add some flowers before the appraisal. Make your yard and landscaping look manicured and welcoming.
If need be, you could paint the front door, or add a new garage door to the home. These are both big exterior features that are noticeable and as such, it’s important to make sure that they look as good as possible.
8. Do a minor kitchen remodel
There are no renovations that can provide a 100% return on your investment, but certain upgrades come close, and a minor kitchen remodel is one of these. Rather than a full kitchen remodel which may be very expensive, there are some minor upgrades which can be done that will have a large impact.
For example, repainting the kitchen, updating the appliances, and upgrading your fixtures can make a big difference in the eyes of a home appraiser and propsective buyers. The kitchen is the focal point of the home, so it’s vital to make sure that the kitchen appears clean, functional, and aesthetically pleasing.
9. Upgrade the bathroom
Similar to the kitchen, updating bathrooms can have a significant impact on the home appraisal value. If a full bathroom remodel isn’t within your budget, you can do some minor upgrades such as redoing the grout, replacing any outdated fixtures and adding modern touches like a mirror or vanity.
Bathroom upgrades are money well spent, and these are a good way to increase your home appraisal value and attract more buyers to the home. Bathrooms are often one of the most important aspects for a prospective buyer, who usually won’t want to have to spend money on a home the minute they’ve bought it.
10. Stage your home
Even if you aren’t going through the home selling process, stage it like you are selling it. Appraisers appreciate homes that look spacious. With less clutter and/or personal items laying out the appraiser can get a better appreciation for the home’s true value. Home stagers are skilled at making a home look organized, appealing and well-maintained. Which is a good way to increase the home’s appraised value, whether you’re going to be doing the home selling process or not.
11. Increase energy efficiency
Making your home more energy efficient can attract potential buyers and increase your home’s value. Consider installing energy efficient windows, upgrading insulation, replacing outdated HVAC systems, and adding solar panels.
All of these energy efficient measures are a good way to increase the value of the home as the lower the energy efficiency of a home, the more valuable and desirable it is.
12. Add extra living space
Consider adding square footage to your home. This can be achieved through finishing a basement, adding a room, or converting unused space. This can even include converting a spare room into an office, or turning a dead space into the house into a work space. Extra living space typically adds value to a property.
6 Factors That Negatively Affect A Home Appraisal
Just as there are ways to improve your home’s value, there are also ways you can diminish it. Understanding what hurts your home’s value helps ensure that you get the most out of your investment.
1. Bright paint colors
While you may love a pop of color on your walls, if an appraiser thinks the color will hurt the home’s popularity, it could hurt the value. Generally speaking, bright colors aren’t advisable for a home as these can lower the value and detract from the rest of the home.
Buyers are typically looking for a home that has neutral colors and can easily be made theirs. Pops of bright color are subjective and therefore don’t appeal to everyone.
2. Structural damage
Pay close attention to the structural areas of the home that need repairs. Even though structural repairs are expensive, they can decrease the home’s value significantly because the structure is literally holding the home up. Structural damage is non-negotiable and needs to be seen to right away, or the home appraisal value will be much lower.
3. Deferred maintenance
Overlooking minor repairs takes away from your home’s value because minor overlooked repairs turn into big problems. A small roof leak, for example, could turn into a major flood or mold in the attic, both of which ruin a home’s value.
Essentially, if your home is in a state of disrepair or shows significant signs of neglect, such as extensive damage to the roof, water leaks and so on, it can lower the appraisal value significantly.
4. Outdated homes
Homes with outdated fixtures, appliances, or design elements may be valued lower than those with modern amenities. This includes outdated kitchens, bathrooms, flooring, or electrical systems. You don’t need to make expensive or extensive updates, but staying with the times helps your home’s value, which includes upgrading the features and appliances.
5. Bad curb appeal
Appraisers walking into your home with a bad feeling because of messy or unmanicured landscaping will naturally value your home lower. They know what potential buyers will think when they see the exterior and this will therefore impact the value.
Curb appeal refers to the landscaping, exterior of the home and even things like the garage door. Making sure that the first impression of the home is good, is key to increasing the home value. A bad first impression is likely to lower the appraised value of the home before the appraiser even sets foot inside.
6. Old and/or hazardous materials
Some homes, particularly older ones, were made with materials that are now seen as hazardous. An example of this would be lead paint. These materials would significantly impact the home appraisal value for health reasons.
For materials that are safe, but are simply outdated, this is also a negative impact on the appraisal value as they aren’t as energy efficient and could be more expensive to repair.
Understand How To Increase The Value Of Your Home Appraisal
One of the factors that you can’t control in the appraisal process is the value of the homes recently sold in the area. However, knowing the recently sold values gives you a good idea as to what yours should be, so it’s important to consult a real estate agent on this.
A real estate agent will give you a good idea of the comparable home prices in the area by using their network or other real estate agent tools. Then you’ll know whether you should invest more money into your home in the way of renovations and upgrades, or if your home is already on track to being appraised at the highest possible value.
There are certain aspects to the value of your home appraisal that you can control. It’s a good idea to focus on any hazards or eyesores that need fixing, before the appraisal, or they’ll take away from the home’s market value significantly. Look at your home through the eyes of a buyer and you’ll more than likely see the changes you should make.
Remember, the market value of your home is also influenced by factors outside your control, such as the local market conditions and the overall state of the economy. While you can take steps to increase the home appraisal value, it’s important to manage your expectations and understand that the home appraisal value is ultimately determined by professional appraisers.