Sinking a bit of cash into your home is a brilliant way of investing for the future – depending on the kind of home improvements you decide to go for, that is.
Henry Pryor, a property expert who appears on programmes like Radio 4’s Today and BBC Breakfast to talk shop on a regular basis, has collaborated with GoCompare to find out which renovation projects would deliver the best return on investment… and it might not be quite what you would have thought.
While you might think that doing up the bathroom and kitchen would give you the biggest return, in actual fact it’s upgrading the boiler that will stand you in the best stead. Mr Pryor, according to the Daily Mail, says that it would cost you around £2,000 to install a new boiler but doing so would actually add £8,000 in value to your house – so your profit would be a cool £6,000.
However, if you don’t have plans to sell up and move on, it is perhaps less important to think about what would add value and go for a home improvement project that would have the biggest impact on your life instead. This could be anything from installing conservatories in your Tameside property to upgrading the double glazing… whatever you think would make the biggest difference to your standard of living at home.
Mr Pryor was quoted by the news source as saying: “Most buyers prefer to pay for the opportunity to be able to add an attic conversion, kitchen extension or convert a basement. Getting planning permission to do the work is frequently the best investment you can make leaving the actual choice of layout, decoration and equipment to the next owner.
“Improving the green credentials of a house usually pays – a new boiler, insulation or energy saving measure along with security improvements will usually pay off but some additions like solar panels will be hard to get a payback on immediately.”
With energy costs now starting to spiral, making energy-efficient improvements at home could certainly be a wise idea. Insulation is perhaps the quickest and easiest way of making changes in this regard – so head up to the loft to see if your house as appropriate loft insulation. It would also be worth trying to find out how well insulated the walls at home are.
New windows should be double or triple glazed in order to keep the heat out in summer and in during the winter, which will see your energy bills drop at this time of year. If you have lots of old appliances at home, you might also see a difference in your energy consumption if you upgrade your fridge-freezers, ovens and heating systems to the latest models.
You might not like the idea of replacing something that works perfectly well, but if they’re starting to hit your back pocket it’s possible that they’ll break down sooner rather than later in any case.
