Should You Build More Equity into Your Home Before Selling?
If you’re considering selling your home in a year or two, it’s worth weighing up whether you could, build more equity into your home before selling it.
To add value, there are several ways this can be achieved, however, these need to be weighed against how much it will cost you in time and money.
What do buyers consider important when viewing a house?
I’ve written extensively on what specific improvements add value to your home and those which don’t.
Aside from these specific measures, it is worth noting what buyers are most interested in. In other words, what will make them consider your property above others and pay a price you’re happy with, helping you build more equity into your home before selling.
Over the summer a consumer survey published a league table of what prospective buyers considered most important when viewing properties.
- A Garden – 43%
- Off-street parking – 38%
- Proximity to local amenities – 29%
- A garage – 26%
- Maximum living space – 18%
- Good public transport connections – 18%
(Source: Which?)
Let’s look at these in detail.
A garden
Green-fingered readers will know how pleasing a well-stocked and well-maintained garden can be to someone viewing the property. But to enhance the appeal, depending on the space available, you could expand a patio area to make it better suited to a family, create a barbecue corner, or demonstrate the potential for a summerhouse or garden room. These are increasingly popular with many more people working from home.
Less obvious, perhaps, but also consider possible external lighting to make your garden a ‘room at night’ where people can sit out after the working day. And of course, when a property is on the market it’s as important to keep a garden well-maintained and neat as a room inside: that goes for boundary items like borders, fences and gates too. Maintaining a garden well could help build equity in your home before selling.
Off-street parking
Even without a driveway turning that front garden into parking may be a possibility. This can be more complicated than it sounds as you need planning consent to ‘drop the kerb’ and should seek expert advice to ensure any hard standing can take the weight of a car and uses materials to withstand the pressure of tyres being turned at sharp angles if the space is tight.
But if it’s possible, you should get immediate payback in terms of the value-added exceeding the cost. This way, you can build more equity before selling your home.
Proximity to local amenities
Being close to stations, schools and shops was a traditional favourite (and still is) but these days, you must ensure your agent emphasises other advantages too.
Being close to good restaurants, or within delivery zones for supermarkets and takeaways, are sought-after by younger families and professionals. These factors can add more equity to your home before it’s sold.
A garage
The advantages and appeal are obvious of a garage, especially if your home is not close to public transport links.
Some conversions are left deliberately basic – essentially just a secure, dry garage with power. This could therefore be used for storage or as a workshop or gym, if your buyer is like many homeowners, and leaves the car outside. Such versatility can be beneficial in building more equity into your property.
Maximum your living space
There are many options here, ranging from loft conversions (into offices or bedrooms) to a cellar or basement conversion. Remember these improvements will add equity but may take some time to execute, especially if they require planning consent. But they have additional benefits – converting a roof space, for example, allows you to improve insulation as well as create more space.
One additional way of creating space, or at least the feeling of it, is to turn part of all a floor of your home into open-plan living, but again there may be planning or building constraints – and it could take some months to complete.
Quicker solutions involve – you’ve guessed it – decluttering to give a less dense appearance to people viewing your home, plus a few ‘tricks of the trade’. For example, if your TV is free-standing in a room, mount it on a wall to create more space. Perhaps try a corner sofa to offer the same sitting area but take up less of your room. And your coffee table could double as a storage box or Ottoman. These could all be achieved at a modest cost but with big results. Decluttering can also help you build more equity into your home before you sell.
Good public transport connections
You won’t be able to conjure a bus route out of nowhere, but it’s important to make sure your agent emphasises what links there are near your home. This factor can make a difference and help build more equity before selling.
Improve your energy efficiency
I’ve touched upon this already, but active homebuyers are increasingly concerned about energy efficiency. Estate agents and buyers have reported a growing awareness and interest in EPC ratings that accompany every home on sale – the better your home’s EPC, the more attractive it will be when it’s on the market.
So, it’s worth seeing what you can do to make these improvements and improve your energy efficiency. Many are well-known and relatively straightforward – for example, using LED lights, fitting a combi boiler, installing double glazing, add insulation into lofts. None of these will involve structural work and, cumulatively, may improve an EPC rating. These improvements can build more equity into your home before you sell.
More fundamental work such as solar panels, automating heating controls to make them easier to amend day-to-day, and installing air-source or ground-source heat pumps will all involve substantial work and cost, and the pay-back period will benefit your buyer rather than yourself.
Planning consent
Planning permission for key improvements – extensions, a garage or a summerhouse for example – may increase the value of your property even if you have not carried out the work. Most planning consents last three years so it pays to seek your local council’s consent close to the time you bring the property to market. This can be a strategic move to build more equity into your home before selling.
Building equity strategies
All these suggestions will add value. But remember to check with a Propertymark agent before embarking on work, for their advice on the local market, special circumstances that may be unique to your area, and guidance on how much specific measures may add to the asking price when you come to sell.
Good luck!
Last Updated: December 10th, 2024
