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02 Jan 2015

Added value through shrewd home improvements

While it is widely acknowledged that home improvements can increase the value of a property, it is often not a guarantee, with many unwary homeowners inadvertently spending money to no discernible effect. However, there are ways and means to not just increase the value of your home, but also your enjoyment of it.

According to Channel 4’s irrepressible property expert, Phil Spencer, the top two ways of improving the desirability – and therefore value – of the average residential property are loft conversions and conservatories. By extending your living space either upwards or outwards you can add an estimated 4-16% to the value of your home.

It is, perhaps, an obvious statement to make, but the quality of any home extension directly correlates with the potential added value of the project; a bodged DIY conservatory could actually decrease the price you are likely to get for your home when you come to selling. An Apropos bespoke conservatory on the other hand, will increase the value of your property by approximately 5-8%. As a rough guide, if you spend £5000-10,000 on a glass extension, you can expect to get around £10,000-16,000 back on your final asking price.

A recent survey has revealed that the installation of a new kitchen will also add a further 5-8% to a property’s value. If you build that shiny new kitchen-diner in a light-living glass extension, which opens out into your garden, you could be adding up to 16% to the value of your home – certainly not to be sniffed at. The key thing is to make sure that the extension feels like an integrated part of the property, rather than just a cobbled-on after-thought. Apropos have many ways to help you achieve this, but one of the simplest is to match the flooring to the rest of the downstairs, to create a flowing, cohesive feel to the living space.

Multiple benefits

Of course, once you’ve made your home improvements, there is always the chance that you’ll no longer wish to sell, and a well-constructed glass extension or conservatory can help you to save money in other ways.

The obvious point is the green one – with the addition of so much glass you will no longer need to use so many lights in your home, thus reducing your energy consumption and the respective bills. Additionally, Apropos’ solar-controlled glass will help to thermally protect your home, preventing heat-loss in winter and heat-gain in summer, allowing you keep a comfortable ambient temperature year-round, without having to pay for power-hungry equipment.

The property market is a fickle thing and it can be impossible to predict its future trends, but it has always been the case that well-presented houses attain a higher value than those that are down at heel, and there is no reason to suspect that that will ever change.

[email protected]     www.aproposuk.com      0161 342 8206

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