Hardly your ordinary house, a luxury home should be easy to sell for top dollar because of its many exclusive features that other homes don’t usually have. However, when pitted with other luxury homes within the neighborhood and the overall luxury real estate market, it will of course have to offer more to sell quickly and for a substantial amount.
Like with other types of property, making improvements is an effective way to raise your luxury home’s value. Of course, the changes you make should be up to par with your home’s stature, so measly changes like new paint or carpeting won’t be enough. From creating his or her bathrooms to installing a smart home system, there are many ways to raise the value of your luxury home, but there’s a handful that can prove to be more effective than others.
If you’re thinking of putting your luxury home up on the market but aren’t quite sure if it can sell competitively enough along with other San Francisco homes for sale, you’ve likely also considered making a few upgrades to the space to help raise its value.
Making upgrades on a luxury home, however, is understandably tricky. Luxury homes, after all, are generally unlike other homes. So in order to make the most impact on your home appraisal, the improvements you opt to make should be much more substantial than just giving your home a new coat of paint or installing new carpeting.
If you aren’t sure where to start, the following are a handful of improvements that will both effectively raise your home’s value and raise its profile in the local real estate market.
Warm up the bathroom
When it comes to raising a home’s value, few quite do it like a newly renovated bathroom. According to Moving.com, sellers who embark on a bathroom renovation on their midrange home recoup about 67.2% of their costs on average, while renovations for luxury homes recoup 60.2%.
A nice feature to add that isn’t common with most other homes’ bathrooms is heated floors. Granted, it is surely an expensive add-on, but it is also guaranteed to enhance your home’s value and will have interested buyers remembering your home as they imagine how great it would be not having to step barefoot on a cold bathroom floor.
Create more space
If your bathroom is already renovated or remodeled, another way to significantly raise your home’s worth is to add to what its value is measured on: space. Extra room is always a plus for anyone, and homebuyers with growing families (or those about to have one) have a higher regard for homes that are ready to grow along with them.
While you may not be able to add to your property’s lot area, you can always add to its floor area. This can be in the form of an additional bedroom or bathroom, an expanded balcony, or a larger patio. If you have the resources, adding an entirely new floor to your home would make its value skyrocket.
Don’t forget the basement
Speaking of making extra room, basements are often neglected and underutilized in this regard. You can, however, include your basement in your home improvement plans and transform it into something more appealing than storage space, such as an additional living area, a game room, or extra sleeping quarters.
Whatever it is you choose to do with the basement, what is important is the inspection and clean-up that goes along with its improvement. As mentioned, most basements are afterthoughts, making them the center of hidden problems like leaky plumbing and unseen mildew. These problems can drive buyers away, but when resolved and improved upon, will raise your home’s value.
A true luxury home is a future-proof home
Convenience is the partner of luxury and being able to control the lighting, temperature, entertainment, and security features of the home with the ease of a mobile device is the peak of convenience.
There are a variety of smart-home systems available on the market, giving you options as to how ‘smart’ you want your home to be. Of course, the more extensive the system you install, the greater value it adds to your home. It’s one thing to have a home where you can control the locks, it’s another to have a home where you can control everything with your voice and via your mobile phone even when you are away.
Solar power it up
While the best of luxury homes have the latest smart and entertainment systems and are adorned with decorative lighting and feature creature comforts like heated pools and bathrooms, it doesn’t mean they have to be built to be wasteful on electricity. The key to addressing all the energy-consuming features of your luxury home is solar panels.
Of course, there are other improvements that you can do to your home to raise its value, including changes that are in line with the location, amenities and style of your property. If you have any questions on the pulse of the Bay Area real estate market and want to further ensure your home sells for a great price, working with Team Hatvany is your best bet. Contact the top realtors in San Francisco at 415.710.6462, or send an email to team(at)teamhatvany(dotted)com.