A common connotation is that homes will stay in value and will be priced tightly with their their neighbouring Price Per Square Foot.
‘Sell-able’ it is in the perspective of the buyer. Do you want to reach a common market buyer with a higher chance for sale or are you looking for a select group of buyers who is willing to pay more for the experience, the lifespan of the building, the comfort and quality?
No doubt the debate on whether a property is ‘sellable’ or not can go a long way (depending who you speak to), but if you ask a real estate agent, everything is ‘sell-able’, we bet.
Renovation is the big breaker here when it comes to raising values, but it has to be contextual to the space itself. If you are looking at an apartment space, the ‘usable space’ that you can increase is limited as compared to a landed home for example.
That bring us to our first point
Increasing Usable Area
Note that this is different from increasing your Gross Floor Area (GFA). In the event that you do construction should be legal, Developments as Thomson V Two, The Armdale, Euphony Gardens, Trilinq, have provision for construction of loft spaces. Loft spaces are a secondary space built-up in areas with double volume spaces, thus increasing the usable floor area for either a book corner, a bed or a living room. A double volume space is where a floor-to-ceiling’s height can stack two humans head to feet vertically.
Umbrella canopy
In landed homes, this could translate into getting something like the above. You can create an alfresco dining area in the middle of your garden without increasing GFA. be sure to decorate it with a dining set and it gives the next user an option of having food in their own garden – a privilege not many can afford.
Landed homes can take advantage of increasing usable space by getting weatherproof storage sheds or getting retractable awnings. If GFA is absolutely needed to be changed to get better usable space, do apply with BCA to get approval for fixed shelters or even re-constructing the home.
In the event that you do re-construct, you might be able to build an extra storey/basement or the flexibility to build more rooms and bathrooms.
Fresh Paint
Another inexpensive hack to increasing the value of your home when it comes to (Selling/Renting). Tenants and prospective buyers give comments like “I have to spend a lot of money to decorate” or “this is NOT move in condition!”, and more often than not it is because of the paint work. No prospective buyer or tenant would like to move into a ‘dirty place’ – homes that have massive paint cracks, algae-stained walls, water stains on the ceiling or even cracked plaster work. House exteriors should use weather-borne and anti-fungi paint to last longer before the next painting. NOTE THAT: for commercial/office spaces, the paint work can create a big difference in value, just compare it in the picture above.
Services
This is important! The amount of Toilets, Washing Areas, Air-Conditioning Units, do play a big part in home value. Similar to the previous point, prospective Buyers and Tenants look at the amount of upgrading they need to do. Compare apartments of layouts 2-Bedroom 1-Toilet and 2-Bedrooms 2-Toilets. The latter does give prospect for having an additional family member move in together with the main resident and give the resident a longer use of the space, and opens up the house for entertaining. Air-Conditioning is a NEED in Singapore with the daily sweltering heat causing us discomfort. Quality of living experience in the house does play a big part to the next user.
Outlook
If you home looks like that next to lesser-designed houses, you can expect to command a special rate for this. This technique is the equivalent to putting a rolex next to a casio and a daniel wellington. Based on your price per square foot area, you can expect it to be above valuation for the area, however this has to be carefully calculated based on the future prospects of your investment maturity and has to strike a balance where the sale price can cover your building costs, but that is another technique where an Architect can advise you on.
So, we conclude our article here on the various ways to increase the value of your home. They are not small investments but, they do make a difference when it comes to valuation time. If you do find this useful and do use any of our techniques in the future, share it with us, we would love to be part of it.
Plugbear specializes in value creation for our clientele, other techniques include handing over repairs and extended warranties with every job that we undertake.
If you need any help with the above, contact us via email at am@plugbear.com
*EXTRA*
‘Doing Fengshui’ is NOT a value crank. It is done personally for the users of the home.
