Tag Archive for: home value

landscaping tips 1

5 Landscaping Tips To Increase Home Value

Essential Landscaping Tips and Tricks

Details such as landscaping designs and quality craftsmanship in a home can make a dramatic first impression on prospective home buyers. D. Fritz Appraisals Inc. has decades of experience and ideas to help homeowners increase the curb appeal of their homes. 

Industry experts agree home landscaping provides an excellent return on investment. From simply edging your front walkway to creating a luxurious backyard paradise, carefully planning your project will yield the best results. 

Don’t overlook the power that landscaping can have in a competitive real estate market. Join us as we cover 5 standout landscaping tips and backyard landscaping designs to increase your home’s appeal (and value!) and make a lasting impact.

1. Planning Is Paramount

A simple plan keeps you on track and inspires you to dive into your outdoor transformation. Carefully considering your landscaping goals will help you keep your project on time and within budget.

Let’s start with a bit of elbow grease:

  • Cleaning up broken pots and planters, removing dead plants, trimming overgrown trees and pulling weeds will go a long way to help get any landscaping project started. Best of all, they’re free. 
  • From here, move on to repairs, like replacing rotting deck boards and loose railings, fixing anything that could raise red flags with real estate agents & prospective buyers.
  • Finally, when ready, you can tackle the more significant projects on your checklist.

For more complex aspects of your plan, hire a professional landscaping company to ensure your design is accurate and achievable. Their expertise will ensure your outdoor design is well-balanced and elevates your property’s overall style. 

Prefer to keep it simple? Here are a few straightforward backyard landscaping designs that will have a significant effect without being overwhelming.

  • Plant evergreen shrubs and low-maintenance grasses for year-round colour 
  • Create captivating borders with potted plants
  • Position cozy seating to highlight viewpoints
  • Define an eating area with a fun all-weather rug
  • Add trailing vines to a pergola or arbour for shade 

From potted plants to luxurious patios, landscaping design options are limitless. Let your budget, timeline and imagination guide your backyard renovation.

2. Plant Trees Strategically To Create A Private Oasis 

Potential home buyers highly seek trees and privacy. Why not combine them and reap the benefits of both features? Trees, specifically mature trees, are an excellent way to create low-maintenance privacy barriers that offer shade, filter the air, and, when positioned correctly, can reduce your home’s energy consumption.

When planting trees, you’ll want to keep the following in mind: 

  • Avoid planting trees too close to your house, driveway, plumbing or septic systems. This will prevent encroaching root systems from causing damage and stop branches from brushing against rooftops, siding and windows.
  • Contact BC 1 Call before you dig to locate buried power lines and save yourself from costly and dangerous power line strikes. It’s free!
  • Plant as early as possible. Some tree species require several decades to reach maturity.

Check out your local nursery or seek advice from a landscaping expert to ensure that you’re choosing native plants and trees that are low maintenance and are most likely to survive in your specific climate.

3. Brighten Your Outdoor Living Space With Landscape Lighting

Imagine your outdoor oasis backlit with soft lighting while guests gather around your patio’s fire pit. Outdoor lighting is the perfect way to extend your time on your beautiful backyard deck or patio.

Not only does it create an atmospheric entertaining area, but lighting also improves safety along walkways, stairs and steep drop-offs. Targeted lighting enhances home security, highlights architectural features and can help showcase landscaping.

With a wide range of options from solar to LED to hard-wired, there’s sure to be a light that will fit your style.

4. Give Your Front Walkway a Facelift

Potential buyers are judging a home from the moment they set foot on the property, and an attractive front walkway could make or break a future sale.  These simple and affordable landscaping tips will help create a welcoming front pathway to ensure buyer interest.

  • Ensure your pathway is weed-free
  • Replace broken pavers
  • Power-wash the grime away
  • Add fresh mulch to gardens
  • Remove dead plants lining walkways
  • Add a clean edge to walkways and gardens

If you’re looking for design inspiration, Better Homes & Gardens is a great jumping-off point for garden pathway ideas. 

5. Add An Eye-Catching Pop Of Colour

A bold pop of colour in the garden will undoubtedly draw a prospective buyer’s eye. Shrubs that bloom with brightly coloured flowers such as red or pink can be impactful.  Red is often the first colour the human eye notices and stands out nicely against a backdrop of green leaves. 

A carefully planned garden with plants that flower at different times throughout the year will brighten your walkways and garden beds year-round. Adding large plants will anchor your garden design as they are noticeable from a distance. However, don’t let the foliage overflow and crowd around doorways or windows. 

Consider consulting with a landscape designer to select flowers and plants that accentuate your home’s colour palette. For example, with the proper lighting, white, cream and pastel blooms give the illusion that the flowers glow at night.

Don’t forget the greenery, after all, what’s a garden without green? Green shrubs, grasses and tree foliage are the foundation of a memorable garden.

D. Fritz Appraisals Valuations Will Optimize Your Landscaping Dollar

A home valuation with D. Fritz Appraisals will help you determine which landscaping designs will increase your home’s value the most. Our recommended listing prices result in quick home sales and command top-dollar returns.

Serving Victoria to Nanaimo and the Gulf Islands of British Columbia, our professional appraisers prioritize understanding the West Coast marketplace trends.

Let our team of expert property appraisers, certified by the Appraisal Institute of Canada, guide your landscaping design decisions with a comprehensive, accurate valuation.

Contact D. Fritz Appraisals Inc. today for a professional and tailored appraisal report to meet your lending, selling, and appraising needs.

using equity to buy a second home

Using Equity To Buy A Second Home

How to Use Home Equity to Buy Another House

Are you dreaming of owning a second home? Using equity to buy a second home can make your dream a reality.

Taking equity out of your home to buy another house can be a financially advantageous option, as it allows homeowners to tap into the built-up value of their primary residence without worrying about saving up for a second mortgage.

Home equity is like having money in the bank, but it’s tied up in your real estate. This article will discuss the definition of home equity and taking equity out of your home to buy another house in Canada.

What Is Home Equity?

Home equity is a homeowner’s financial stake in their property. It represents the difference between what they owe on their home and its current market value. Homeowners can access this equity through refinancing, taking out a second mortgage or HELOC.

Using equity to buy a second home can be attractive for those looking for additional real estate investments. Using existing funds from your first property, you can avoid taking out a large loan with high interest and a lengthy term. Plus, any future profits generated from rental income could simultaneously offset costs associated with owning two properties. 

How To Calculate Home Equity

Calculating home equity is essential in using it to buy a second home. Home equity is the difference between how much your house is worth and what you still owe on your mortgage loan. To calculate your current home equity, subtract the amount of money remaining on your mortgage from the estimated value of your property. 

Refinancing Vs Home Equity Loan Vs Line Of Credit

There are several options available for using equity to buy a second home. However, each option offers different advantages and disadvantages that need to be weighed when considering the best option for your particular situation.

Refinancing to Buy a Second Home

Refinancing involves replacing your existing mortgage with another, larger mortgage. This can provide access to lower interest rates and extended repayment periods, potentially saving money on mortgage payments. However, refinancing will also incur additional closing costs, such as appraisal fees and legal expenses, which the borrower should consider before making a decision.

Using a Home Equity Loan to Buy Another House

A home equity loan is similar to any other loan where you borrow a set amount from your lender at a fixed interest rate against the value of your property. Often referred to as second mortgages, home equity loans typically have shorter terms than traditional ones and require regular monthly payments until the balance has been repaid entirely. The downside is that because this type of loan uses your home as collateral, you risk losing your house if you default on repayments, so careful budgeting is essential.

Using a HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) to Purchase a Second House

A line of credit works differently than refinancing or getting a home equity loan. Borrowers get flexible access to their funds through the ability to draw funds up to the agreed-upon limit without having to reapply every time they need more money. This makes it ideal for ongoing projects but may come with higher interest rates than other borrowing forms of borrowing so make sure you understand all the details before signing any contracts.

*Regardless of what method you choose, always check if there are government subsidies available which could help reduce costs associated with buying your second home – these incentives vary depending on location, so do some research first!

Tips For Making The Most Of Home Equity Investment

Making the most of home equity investment requires careful consideration of various factors, including understanding your home equity, evaluating financial goals, and seeking expert advice to make informed decisions. Here are some tips to guide you in maximizing your home equity investment:

  • First, know how much equity you have in your home
  • Evaluate your financial situation to determine if using equity to buy a second home is the right choice for you
  • Compare different lenders and their offers to get the best interest rate and terms
  • Consider the length of your loan – longer loan terms can lower monthly payments but also increase the amount of interest you pay over time
  • Be mindful of borrowing more than your current mortgage balance, as this can increase the total amount of interest you pay over time
  • Taking out a home equity loan or line of credit can impact your credit score, so it’s essential to understand the potential consequences
  • The interest you pay on a home equity loan may be tax deductible, but consult a tax professional to understand the implications
  • Explore ways that you might reduce expenses like insurance premiums or maintenance costs so that more of your income is going towards increasing ownership stakes in both homes
  • Stay on top of regular payments to ensure that you keep building positive equity in both investments over time

D. Fritz Appraisals Can Help You With Your Next Home

Using equity to buy a second home in Canada can be an advantageous financial move for many homeowners. Considering all the pros and cons before investing in this (or any) loan or mortgage product is essential. 

Calculating your home equity is the first step.  Then you’ll need to decide between refinancing, taking out a home equity loan, or getting a line of credit. Finally, make sure you understand what you’re signing up for and how it will affect your bottom line before making any commitments.

D Fritz Appraisals has the skills and expertise to appraise your property at fair market value to get considered for a second home. We have provided reliable real estate lending, sales, and appraisals for four decades in Victoria, BC. 

We provide fast and accurate mortgage financing appraisals to homeowners, lenders, mortgage brokers, and real estate agents who need knowledgeable assessments of the local market. So, if you’re eager to move and buy your second home, give us a call. 

home appraiser

Home Appraisals – What Do They Look For?

How Home Appraisers Decide on the Value of Your Property


There are many reasons you may need to know the value of your property and for this, you need a home appraisal.

Home appraisers are trained to inspect and measure your property and perform comparisons that result in an accurate valuation for the current housing market.

Home appraisals are a vital part of the home buying process as they have a big influence on the amount a lending institution will loan the buyer. They are also used to assess the value of the home for home improvement loans and insurance evaluations.

Read on for more information about how a home appraiser determines the value of your property.

What is a Home Appraisal and Why is it Important?

A home appraisal is a legal document containing information that determines the current fair market value of a new or existing property. Financial institutes or mortgage lenders will require an appraisal to ensure the home is worth the amount of money being requested in the loan or mortgage.

Home appraisals are not just for when someone is buying or selling a home for themselves however, they are also important for:

What is Checked During a Home Appraisal?

There are two main parts to a Home Appraisal:

  • Inspection of the property
  • Research and analysis of comparable properties

Property inspection: As part of the appraisal process, your home appraiser will conduct an on-site inspection of the property. During this inspection they are looking at:

  • General characteristics of the home:
    • Size of home – square footage, number of rooms – especially bed and bathrooms
    • Functionality of design and layout
    • Any exterior amenities such as garage, deck, pool
    • Type of foundation
    • Whether a basement or attic are present and their state of finish

Note that appraisers are not looking for any signs of damage to the foundation, basement, attic or mechanical equipment – that would be done by a home inspector as part of the conditions of sale.

  • Quality assessment:
    • Current condition of internal and external aspects of the home – including material and state of walls, floors, roof, windows
    • Type and age of plumbing and other systems (condition would be determined during a home inspection)
  • Any improvements that have been made:
    • Updates to kitchens and bathrooms
    • New efficient heating and cooling systems
    • Recent replacement of major ticket items like windows / roof
    • Energy efficient features such as HVAC, energy star appliances

Note: Home appraisers only look at the fixed features of the home. They are not assessing décor or any feature that is considered removable.

  • Lot:
    • Size and topography of the lot
    • View (including negative views)
    • Vehicular access
    • Any existing easements or zoning issues
  • Location:
    • How well does the home fit in with the surrounding neighbourhood?
    • Local amenities – how close is the home to hospitals, schools, shops and public transport corridors?
    • Crime levels and general condition of the neighbourhood

Comparison to similar properties: As part of the research involved in a home appraisal report, the appraiser will compare the home with others that have recently sold that:

  • Are in the same or similar neighbourhood 
  • Have comparable features such as size, number of rooms, age

The appraiser will review the sale price of these similar homes and make adjustments to account for any differences between them and the home being appraised.

How Does a Home Appraiser Determine Value?

When compiling their final report, home appraisers will determine the final value using a combination of two out of these three methods:

  • Direct comparison: Value is determined by analyzing comparable properties.
  • Cost approach: Value is derived from the cost to replace or rebuild the property and its associated land minus any age-related depreciation.
  • Income approach: Value is determined based on the rental income potential – usually only used when the property is being purchased for this purpose as an investment property.

The final appraised value of your home may be affected, either positively or negatively, by:

  • The location of the home
  • Current real estate market conditions
  • Size of home and number of rooms
  • Zoning in the neighbourhood
  • Future potential for development of the home

Things that can negatively impact the value of your property in a home appraisal include:

  • Delayed maintenance
  • Dated or undesirable features
  • Undeclared repairs
  • Inexperienced appraiser – make sure you choose a professional appraiser who is in good standing with the Appraisal Institute of Canada and who has a good understanding of the local market conditions where your property is located.

How Can You Help Improve the Appraisal Value of Your Property?

If you are preparing for an appraisal on your home there are a few things you can do to help improve the final appraised value, such as:

  • Prepare – treat an appraisal the same as a house viewing – present your home in its best light.
  • Simple fixes – repair minor damage, paint over marks on walls etc.
  • Paperwork – gather any relevant paperwork that supports the valuation of the home such as property tax bills, HOA fees, receipts and permits for any improvements or upgrades.

This pre-appraisal checklist for homeowners is a great starting point for anyone looking for the best ways to positively influence their final appraisal value.

Get Expert Help from a Local Qualified Home Appraisal Team

If you need an appraisal on your property for any reason, make sure you use an experienced and qualified appraiser like the team at D.Fritz Appraisals Inc. Based in Victoria, BC and offering home appraisals across Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, our team of appraisers are all in good standing with the Appraisers Institute of Canada and have superior knowledge of the local market.

Whether you are a property owner, real estate agent, mortgage broker or lawyer, we can provide quick and accurate home appraisal services. Contact us today to let us know how we can help with your home appraisal needs.

pre-appraisal checklist for homeowners

Pre-Appraisal Checklist for Homeowners

Be Prepared for an Appraisal for a Positive Impact on Your Home’s Valuation

Whether you’re selling, refinancing, dividing assets, settling an estate, or determining capital gains on an income property, it pays dividends to be prepared for your home appraisal.

The benchmark for your home’s worth, an appraisal is a legal document that determines the fair market value of a property. It takes the home itself, the neighbourhood and the available historical data into account to determine the most accurate valuation. If you want to refinance, sell, or buy, the appraisal provides mortgage lenders with straight facts so they can underwrite loans based on the purchase price or the appraisal (whichever is lower.) If you’re selling or dividing assets post-divorce, the appraised value ensures that you’ll receive a fair sale price.

How Do I Get Ready for the Appraisal on My House?

Thinking back to when you first listed your home, you likely cleaned it top to bottom and got it looking as good as new for the marketing materials. You’ll want to do this again for your appraisal, so your home makes the best impression possible.

To prepare, gather up all the details about your home relevant to its value. Have a record of comparable properties in the neighbourhood, plus information about neighbourhood amenities. Once that’s done, you can turn to the home’s appearance, doing any repairs and getting estimates for any larger repairs or updates that are needed. Also, don’t overlook the general condition and upkeep of your home. Essentially, you’re going to want to pretend you’re listing your home for the first time and get it looking its best, attending to anything that may have been missed when it was placed on the market.

A good rule of thumb is the $500 rule. Anything that needs to be repaired or updated usually detracts from a home appraisal in $500 increments. Things like cracked tiles, broken fixtures or an outdated countertop can add up to thousands less in your home valuation. Before your home appraisal, you’ll want to go through your home and take care of anything that costs less than $500 to fix. You’ll be able to recover those costs in your home appraisal.

On the day of the appraisal, make sure the appraiser will be able to move around the full perimeter of the home and that all rooms are accessible. You may also want to contain any pets who may be a disturbance. We’ve prepared a complete checklist to make preparing for your home appraisal as simple as possible:

Full Residential Pre-Appraisal Checklist

Information About the Home

  • List of improvements made in the last 15 years, with costs and completion dates.
  • Plot/blueprint or property survey.
  • Home inspection reports (current and previous). If you’re unsure about the difference between each, we have a helpful blog post on home inspections vs. home appraisals.
  • Copies of any previous appraisals – this can help the appraiser see how the value has changed over the years. This can help to pinpoint any trends when combined with the BC Property Assessment information.
  • HOA documents – if you live in an HOA neighbourhood, the appraiser will need to see the costs, regular maintenance schedule, history of fee increases, etc.
  • Any known inconsistencies with data – if your assessed property value has been fluctuating wildly over the years, this needs to be looked at. This will help ensure a fair market value.
  • Any non-permitted additions – if you’ve added a permanent structure without a permit, this can impact the value of your home and pass an unwanted issue on to the buyer. It’s important to note that any undisclosed additions can cause a breach of conditions in your sale contract.
  • Any easements or encroachments – any part of the property should be accounted for to get the most accurate estimate of the land value.
  • The CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) from your Realtor – review this document to see if you know of any homes that were renovated after purchase. Their newly increased value can increase your neighbourhood’s benchmark prices and potentially, that of your home. Properties that have undergone significant changes may no longer be useful for the CMA.

Neighbourhood Features

  • Nearby schools and any special notes about their programs
  • Nearby parks and green space
  • Amenities and shopping
  • Public transport locations
  • Any infrastructure that’s been added since you bought the house


Interior Care

  • Clean up and repaint areas where paint is peeling and discoloured
  • Repair or replace broken hardware
  • Replace outdated fixtures
  • Clean carpets and mop hard flooring
  • Repair any loose floorboards, broken blinds, etc.


Installations

  • Are smoke detectors working?
  • Are carbon monoxide detectors working?
  • Is the water heater strapped?
  • Is the security system in good working order?
  • Are all appliances properly installed and working?


Repairs

  • Note any major repairs and how much it would cost to complete them.
    The appraiser will be able to factor that cost into the appraisal as if the repair or upgrade were already completed.
  • Any leaks in roof or key parts of the home
  • Cracks in walls or foundation
  • Damage to flooring
  • Damage to drywall or exterior stucco/siding
  • Peeling paint
  • Visible damage to doors, windows, screens, etc.


Exterior Care

  • Remove clutter and stray toys from the front and back yards
  • Mow the lawn
  • Tidy the garden and do a little light landscaping
  • If possible, add colour with flowers
  • Touch up paint where it’s needed
  • Replace any broken gutters
  • Update older fixtures and address numbers
  • Remove any outdated décor

 

If you have any questions or concerns about the appraisal process, we recommend looking through our FAQ section, or contacting us by phone or email for assistance. You may also want to speak with your real estate agents about your appraisal preparation.

For even more ways to increase your home’s appraisal value, be sure to read our post on 8 ways to increase the value of your home.

D. Fritz is your residential appraisal expert for Vancouver Island, Victoria and the Gulf Islands. If you’re considering refinancing, buying or selling, our professional team will provide the most accurate and comprehensive evaluations. With a combined half century of experience across the industry in business administration, lending and real estate sales, you can trust in D. Fritz for your real estate appraisal. To order your appraisal, contact our team today.

Home Appraisals - onsite vs online

Home Appraisals vs Online Home Value Calculators

Home Appraisals and Online Home Value Estimates Are NOT the Same Thing

On-site vs. Online: Proper Home Appraisals Need to be Done in Person

With so many types of transactions solely being handled online these days, it’s tempting to want to complete your required home appraisals entirely online and leave it at that. Online home value estimates, however, are not a substitute for a house appraisal carried out by a licensed real estate appraiser.

Online home value estimators can sometimes come close to providing the right answers, but they will never completely beat out the accuracy of an on-site visit by a professional. Nothing can beat the human touch when it comes to home appraisals! The following blog post explores why this is.

What is a Home Appraisal?Home Appraisals - onsite vs online

A home or house appraisal is a third-party report written by a professional appraiser who visits the property and does market research to analyze how much the house is worth in today’s market. An appraisal report informs homeowners, home buyers, and mortgage lenders on the market value of the home.

What is an Online Home Value Estimator?

An online home value estimator is a website or online tool that gives you a rough idea of what your home is worth, based on things like its address, square footage, lot size, and age. There are several competing websites and online platforms and tools offering home value estimators or home value estimating services. Sometimes these online services are referred to more formally as Automated Valuation Models (AVMs), or more casually, home value calculators.

There are online home value estimation tools for homeowners, realtors, and also for banks. While there are free online tools available to homeowners, the Realtors Property Resource is only available to real estate agents. Furthermore, some B2B home valuation services require a subscription, making them suitable for financial institutions and other companies who have recently started providing home estimates to accompany their other financial services.

Each of these tools, however, are likely to provide slightly varying results making them difficult to rely on for any definitive answers.

There are websites that provide home value estimations just by searching an address, while others may provide an estimate only upon request. The most basic ones are featured front row centre on real estate agent and mortgage broker websites. They start by simply asking you “What is your home worth?” or invite you to “Find out how much your house is worth.”

To use the tool, you simply enter your address, and then a few other property details, such as the age and type of property you have, how many bedrooms and bathrooms, and how big the lot size is.  Many of the tools ask you for your contact details or ask you to create an account so they can follow up with you. These free online calculators are essentially marketing tools but can provide a nice starting point for homeowners just starting to think about listing.

How Online Home Value Estimators Work

Online home value estimators provide estimated values for properties based on algorithms and calculations using different sets of property data, taken from MLS and BC Assessment, for example. They look for patterns and relationships between stored property values and the information you have input. These tools often look at past property tax records, what nearby homes have sold for recently, and the average price per square foot in the area.

Home value estimators are limited in what they can estimate, relying solely on the user’s answers to a handful of generic questions. They may or may not be able to calculate the desirability of the city the properties are located in. As such, they should not be considered as a substitute for formal home appraisals. This is because they are incapable of carrying out an up-to-the-minute comparative market analysis on your property, nor do they have intimate, in-depth knowledge of your local area like a local real estate appraiser would have.

Limitations of Home Value Estimators

Home value estimators can give you a rough estimate of what your home is worth, but they cannot account for things like:

  • unique features of a home
  • recent repairs or renovations
  • add-ons or upgrades
  • local markets
  • neighbourhood charm
  • nearby attractions and amenities
  • future amenities
  • quality of the views
  • how well-cared for the home is

In contrast, a licenced property appraisal professional looks at all of those things and more to deliver a thorough, trustworthy and confidential appraisal.

The Takeaway

As technologies get better and better and more data becomes available, the number of companies offering online home value estimates may grow. As it stands, although online home valuation calculators are not thorough or robust enough to replace a human appraiser, they are still commonly used to get both high and low ratio mortgages approved.

A good example of this is CMHC’s auto valuation tool called Emili. Described by the CMHC as “a groundbreaking on-line mortgage loan insurance [decision-making] system,” Emili is essentially a database of properties that uses different factors as way of determining what a house is worth.
Most of these online estimators will highlight the importance of meeting with a real estate professional or home appraiser to receive an in-depth, in-person appraisal of the property that factors in local markets.

A Homeowner’s Next Steps

If you require a general sense of how much your home is worth, an online home value estimator may be a good place to start as they are free and fast.  Some realtors, financial institutions, and professional property appraisers do use sophisticated versions of them as a starting point before doing an on-site appraisal.

After you have checked your home’s value online, consider meeting with a real estate agent to see what they would list your house for. If the numbers are aligned, that’s a good thing! But if the numbers are wildly off, a professional home appraiser can help.

If you receive a home appraisal that is a lot different than the amount an online value home estimator provided you, do not be alarmed. It’s common for these numbers to be different, and when they are, we recommend trusting the person who looked at your property in person. Artificial Intelligence cannot yet beat human input when it comes to home appraisals!

Contact D. Fritz Appraisals today to book your next appraisal in Victoria, BC. We specialize in real estate appraisals for all situations, such as mortgage refinancing, new construction, division of assets, and estates.

landscaping improves the value of your home

8 Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home

Doing These Eight Things Will Help Increase Your Home’s Appraised Value

Looking for ways to increase the appraised value of your home? There are many things you can do to boost its overall value.  The biggest things determining the value of your home are its location, its size, and the current market conditions. While these three factors are out of your control, there are still many things you can do to impress appraisers and list your house for top dollar.

Before you go spending thousands of dollars in renovations, however, make sure you follow this advice from the outset.

  • Create a Budget – Do your research and come up with a realistic budget and do your best to play within it. You need to be careful that what you spend on renovations is less than the potential increase in value of your house.
  • Keep Careful Records – Every trip to the hardware store adds up, so write everything down, keep receipts, and make note of any warranties you get. This information will help you impress the appraiser as well as prospective buyers.

Now that you’ve got the “bookkeeping” out of the way, here are 8 things you can do to increase the value of your home.landscaping improves the value of your home

    1. Consult pros along the way – Ask your real estate agent, your contractor, or even the owner of the paint store for advice along the way. It’s often free!
    2. Book a Home Appraisal – Hiring an accredited appraiser at the beginning can help you understand what your home is worth in its current condition. It can also help you qualify for a home equity line of credit for larger projects.
    3. Consider Your Neighbourhood – Check to see the listing prices of homes in your neighbourhood before getting too deep into a renovation. The neighbourhood will dictate the upper limits of what you can realistically expect to sell your house for. This ultimately affects how much money you should invest in improvements.  For example, fancy fixtures might be over the top and quickly eat up the budget without adding any value to your listing price. You might not get back the cost of those $1,000 lighting fixtures. Likewise, a prospective buyer won’t be willing to overpay for your property just because it has a sauna.
    4. Enhance Your Curb Appeal – A house that looks well taken care of from the outside can impress appraisers and prospective buyers alike. Enhancing your home’s curb appeal includes things like:
      Cleaning the roof: Get rid of that overgrown moss. For most houses, it’s not a charming look.
      Repairing the roof: Attend to roof repairs. A roof in poor condition will be flagged during a home inspection, allowing people to low ball or withdraw their offers.
      Fixing the fence: Fix your fence if it needs fixing but note that adding a fence where there wasn’t one there before might cost a lot without adding value.
      Power wash: A thorough power wash can quickly revive patios, driveways, and paths.
      Lawns: Keep the grass green and trim.
      Landscaping: Weed the garden, trim the hedges, and check with your municipality about removing hazardous looking trees.
    5. Fix the Small Details – Inside, a lot of small fixes can add value. Things like leaking faucets, noisy bathroom fans, cracked windows, holes in the walls, burned out lightbulbs, carpet stains, and aging or outdated electrical fixtures can make your home seem like it needs a lot of work, thereby reducing its value. So, take care of these easy fixes.
    6. Fresh Coat of Paint – A freshly painted house will clean and brighten everything up. Pick neutral colours, shop around for reliable painting companies, and be amazed at how quickly your value has increased.
    7. Make It a Smart Home – Adding a few “smart” features to your home can add a touch of modern tech and appeal, without costing a lot. Consider installing Wi-Fi-enabled thermostats, doorbells and other gadgets to increase appeal.
    8. Kitchens & Bathrooms – In many cases, a kitchen or bathroom reno can increase the value of your home. But proceed with caution because these types of projects can end up costing more money than what they add to your home’s selling price.

Every home is different. A kitchen renovation might make sense in one home, whereas in another house, adding a second bathroom instead of replacing the kitchen might make more sense.

Sometimes you can avoid going the whole nine yards and can get away with just swapping out the appliances and adding a fresh countertop. Make kitchen and bathroom renovation decisions wisely and consult an expert before you begin ripping out cupboards and bathtubs.

To learn more about the appraisal process and what appraisers look for when they visit your property, contact D. Fritz Appraisals – your Victoria, BC property appraisal experts servicing Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.