Home remodeling

If your home has been on the market for a while, then you know how rough today's housing market is. Home prices are dropping, there are many more houses for sale, and everyone is in competition for the same number of potential home buyers. The key to increasing your home's value and then selling your house quickly is to set it apart from other homes in the area. You need to give your home more features and make it more appealing than the other homes in your neighbourhood.

These sort of home improvements are not necessarily cheap, but by spending a little money to fix up your house, you could end up making a lot of money in a potential home sale. If you're going to make these home improvements to sell your home, then you should strongly consider hiring professionals and not doing them yourself. Professional contractors will do the work quicker and will more than likely do a better job than you could yourself. That extra step between professional and amateur home improvement will show when you put your house on the market.

Here are the top five home remodeling, home improvement projects to consider:

1.Professional Landscaping and Updated Exterior

With the increased number of homes on the market buyers can be more choosy, and many are initially judging homes with a simple "drive by" look. If your home doesn't have that curb appeal, then it's time to spend some money having the front yard professionally landscaped and maybe updating the exterior siding, windows, and doors. Make sure your home can be seen from the road and looks freshly updated. A first impression can make all the difference between selling your home and having it on the market for months or years at a time.

2.Updated Bathrooms

The last twenty years have brought a lot of modern designs and updates to the bathroom and buyers are looking for that. Don't go overboard but new cabinets, flooring, sinks and showers are almost a must. Swirl tubs and electric wiper dryers are almost becoming usual bathroom equipment in many newer homes, so you may want to consider doing the same to your bathrooms.

3.Kitchen Remodel

Kitchens are tricky because you can very easily spend a lot of money updating a kitchen only to have the kitchen not meet someone else's taste. Try to stick with neutral and light colors in the kitchen. Modern appliances that stay with the home will always garner more interest and consider spending the extra money on stainless steel appliances which are still very popular.

4.Updated Flooring

Floors are often overlooked in home remodeling, but there are a lot of new affordable and durable flooring options that can change the look and feel of a room as much as a fresh coat of paint. Consider replacing any vinyl flooring with tile or some laminate replacement floor and clean or replace any worn or dated carpeting.

5.Additional Rooms

Putting an addition on a home is always a great way to increase buyer interest and your home's value because more space warrants a higher price most of the time. If your home is just like all the other homes for sale in your neighbourhood, but your home has an extra bedroom or entertainment area, then your home will naturally be more appealing.

The one thing to remember is that you should not go overboard and improve your home right out of your price range. Only consider improving your home with about 10% of your home's selling price. So if your home is worth about £200,000, then you might want to consider spending no more than £20,000 on home improvements. If you spend more than that, then you may not be able to recoup your expenditure when you sell your home.

How do can you pay for all these home improvements? Many people are turning to home improvement loans to pay for these sort of projects to sell their homes. Banks, mortgage companies, lending companies and even large hardware stores all offer various home improvement loan and financing options to consider. These types of loans are becoming popular and competitive as more and more people realize that they need to improve their home to sell their home.