It makes sense to anyone getting ready to sell their home. They want to sell it for as much as possible. And if this is you, you may be wondering how to get the maximum amount of money for your home when it comes time to sell. Luckily for you, we have compiled a list of the 8 most impactful ways to increase the value of your home. While not every point listed will be beneficial to everyone, these are the points that have the biggest impact overall. We recommend choosing at least 2-3 of these points when getting ready to sell your home. While all 8 will guarantee the highest increase, we understand that it may not be financially possible to incorporate all 8 into your home before selling.

Here is a list of the 8 most impactful ways to increase the value of your home this year:

1. Update your home's finishes: Sometimes all your house needs is a change in some finish work. This is usually the easiest to do yourself in most cases because most times, finishes are considered paint in your home. A fresh coat of paint on both the interior and exterior of your home can work wonders in increasing your home value. There are other examples of finish work in your home such as flooring, facing, plastering, wallpapering and glazing. While most of these arent as easy to do yourself, they will most certainly guarantee to help increase the value of your home if you were to upgrade/update them.

2. Upgrade to energy-efficient features and appliances: Energy efficiency is a a HUGE selling point for homes today. Prospective home buyers almost always choose homes with energy efficient appliances over ones that don't. Even if they get a better deal with the less energy efficient home. Typically in older homes, and by older I mean built in 2010 and older, the appliances aren't anywhere near as energy efficient as they are today in newer homes. In-home appliances have come a long way in the last decade especially in the name of energy efficiency. Our furnaces heat more efficiently, our air conditioners cool more efficiently, water heaters take less energy to heat water(especially if you have tankless which you can read the benefits of here), and pretty much all other appliances that are in your home. Having all of these upgraded, or even some of them, will add a great deal of value to your home when it comes time to sell. It will put your home at the top of the list for many home shoppers.

3. Freshen up your curb appeal: One way to add value to your home is to give the curb appeal of your home an upgrade. One way to do this is to paint the exterior of your home as mentioned in number 1. There are other ways you can do this as well. One of the most impactful ways is to do some upgrades landcaping. Other ways that maybe aren't as powerful as landscaping but still have some effect are bright colored front foor, front door decor, upgrade your address numbers, upgrade your garage door, add outdoor furniture, etc. People want a home that has a yard and curb appeal worth showing off. Having a curb appeal that really pops will definitely grab any homebuyers attention and make them consider paying more money for your house rather than going to a home that has less than impressive curb appeal.

4. Update the look of your kitchen: The kitchen is the hub of the home. It is where families get together at the end of a day to share a meal together. It is where parties are held, and where people congregate to spend time together. Upgrading your kitchen can be simple or it can be quite the undertaking depending on how far you want to go. We recommend doing the basics like upgrading your appliances, new countertops, new flooring, new backsplash, new sink and faucet, replacing or resurfacing your cabinets and if you don't know which one is best for you, we have an article here which will help you determine which option is best for you. With kitchen remodeling, the sky is the limit on how far you can go with your features and upgrades as well as spending. It is important to know the line of when upgrading has gone too far. It's difficult to tell you where the line for "too far" on a kitchen remodel is because it varies from house to house and from neighborhood to neighborhood. If you take a remodel too far, the ROI(return on investment), begins to demo ish and you're maybe adding hundreds of dollars to the value of your home rather than thousands or tens of thousands. To best know where the line is on upgrading your kitchen, we recommend you consult with a designer to help give you an idea on what to do with the budget you have and how to maximize your dollar to get a bigger ROI.

5. Update the look of the master bathroom: The master bathroom is a very important and often overlooked room of the house that homeowners tend to skip on upgrading when preparing their home to be sold. In fact, the master bathroom has one of the biggest impacts on wether or not a home sells quicker than others. When someone thinks of a master bathroom, they want a space that is relaxing, bright, comfortable, offers storage and functionality, as well as just looking great. Nowadays, it is more and more common for people to want a master bathroom that resembles more of a spa atmosphere. You can achieve the spa atmosphere a few ways. We recommend you upgrade your bathtub to a more modern looking tub, your shower to a new, clean looking tile with a fresh new shower pan, new flooring that is easy to maintain and can withstand moisture, as well as new paint, a new vanity, mirror, and new light fixture. These all go hand in hand with one another and help really make a bathroom stand out to home buyers giving you the opportunity to raise the price a bit on your home.

6. Finish off your basement or other unfinished spaces: If you don't have a basement or other unfinished spaces in your home then this step can be skipped. However, if you do have unfinished rooms or spaces in your home, finishing them and making them nice and functional will add useable square footage to your home as well as allow for you to market those space to home buyers. If your basement is unfinished, simply turning it into a living room or game room or something along those lines can help tremendously. If you really wanted to crush it, you can convert your basement into a whole other floor with a living room, bedrooms, a bathroom or two and any other rooms you might be able to fit if your basement is big enough to accommodate them. More livable space in the same footprint allows for you to get more money for the same size home.

7. Clean and declutter before showing your home: A clean home sells much better than homes that look lived in. Even though it's obvious that used homes have been lived in just by the fact that they are used homes, making them feel as if they aren't lived in or at least as much. Decluttering will also help. And this can be as simple as reducing the amount of knick-knacks you have on shelves, or boxing up the extra decor that may be taking up extra space. This may be crazy sounding but we recommend taking down any family photos you may have or photos with people in them. The reason for this is because people want to be able to envision their family in the home and it's much harder for them to do that when they see yours. While that isn't necessary, studies have shown it definitely helps buyers see themselves living in the home and get closer to a buying decision.

8. Add smart-home features: This one is always a tough hurdle to get over for most people. And it's mainly because homeowners today grew up without having smart home features in their homes and are okay with not having them. This is great but, the issue with this is that the upcoming generation of homeowners are much more into the smart home lifestyle. Something about saying "Hey Alexa..." followed by a series of commands to utilize different aspects of their home is super desirable right now. You don't need to go crazy if you choose to incorporate smart home features into your home. But adding some will definitely give that edge over homes that don't have smart hime features. Adding things like smart lighting, smart appliances, smart window coverings, smart home audio, and other smart features will appeal to prospective home buyers because they will be able to control their home with their voice from anywhere in the home at any time. It's a marketable feature that many home buyers are now looking for in todays market so having them will allow for you to bump the listing price up a bit when it comes time to sell.

Hopefully this list has given you a guide to follow when preparing to sell you home so that you can maximize the listing price and get the most money when selling. Creating a home that catches buyers eyes end lingers in their minds even after they have left your home is the surefire way to guarantee you get top dollar. We have seen all of these items work in carrying degrees for many homeowners and we have seen our clients when selling their homes get huge returns from their efforts. It is worth mentioning again that not all of these will work for everyone or that they will all have the same effect but each of these have been proven to show great returns for many homeowners.

If you or someone you know are interested in giving your home some upgrading before selling and you are located in Northern Nevada. Specifically, Reno, Sparks, Incline Village or surrounding areas, our team of home renovation experts at Paramount Craftsman Services can help you maximize the amount of money you're able to get out of your home when selling. To learn more about our process and how we can best help you, please visit our website by clicking here.