Hot Home Improvements For 2022

Home values have been skyrocketing over the past two years. It’s been amazing to see. Where once we thought the pandemic would crush the real estate market we’ve realized the push to keep people safe at home stimulated a very different focus on real estate. Home improvements became paramount to a happy home life. Finding a home to fit the needs of staying home made the housing market extremely competitive. Even investors took notice of the growing real estate market. Hopefully you’ve noticed your home’s equity rising with the times as well. Do you want to push that value even higher? Here are a few home improvement projects to look to take on, and a few to avoid, that will help your home’s value keep up with the market.

 

Home Improvements To Do

 

These projects can help increase the value of your home and are easy to get done.

  • Interior Electrical

    Keeping your interior electrical up to date can increase the value of your home from an aesthetic point of view, as much as from a safety standpoint. If you haven’t changed your wall plugs in the past decade or two, it may be time! You may even find some energy saving options. There have also been some great safety updates to new plugs. Updating your ceiling fans, light fixtures, and even your appliances can save you money as well as add value into your home. Energy efficiency has been all the rage the past two decades. LED lights, high efficiency washers & dryers, water heaters, and dishwashers, and so many more money-saving upgrades are must-haves in new homes. Aim to switch out your old appliances and fixtures to help increase your home value, and your general appreciation of your living space!
  • Floors

    Updating your floors is an automatic benefit to home value, aesthetic, and atmosphere! You can also do this on the cheap, if need be. New flooring, especially the newer vinyl flooring, are extremely easy to install. They even look like natural woods and stones, if you select the right ones. We also recommend doing some research into the local area and see what most of the houses in the area have for floors. More hardwood or vinyl in your area means you should go with hardwood or vinyl floors. If more homes have carpeting, that may be the way to go. We typically recommend hardwood and vinyl floors for Colorado Homes. It keeps cleaning easy, especially if your family is active and outdoors a lot.
  • Garden & Lawn

    Curb appeal is one of the biggest assets you can update this year. Start planning out your gardens, both in the front yard and backyard! Planting perennial flowers, bushes, and trees in the front yard will help buyers fall in love at first sight, or just make your home welcoming every time you arrive. Setting up your backyard to produce vegetables, fruits, or other edible plants not only saves you money on groceries but also gives you a great hobby while minimizing mowing in the summer. This can be a low cost project with many benefits economically and mentally.

 

Home Improvements To Avoid

The pandemic has put a strain on many aspects of life, including the supply chain, costs, and motivation. With that said, here are some home improvement projects to avoid.

  • Windows

    We have heard from many contractors and suppliers that windows are hard to find, and when found, can be more expensive. This is especially true of custom windows. For this reason alone, we recommend waiting on updating your windows until things settle down in the market.
  • Lumber

    The costs of lumber have been on a roller coaster to the sky over the past year. Finding lumber has been troublesome at times. For this reason, we would recommend avoiding the following projects:

    • Room Expansions
    • Additions to the House
    • Porches

It you can wait a year or so to tackle these projects you may find yourself saving some money.

  • Labor Intensive Projects

    Hiring contractors for projects like new builds or additions has become a challenge. The costs of labor have shifted a bit during the Pandemic, but the cost of labor isn’t why we recommend avoiding these projects. It’s the availability of labor. In general, more people are doing more home improvements, hiring contractors all over the Front Range. With COVID-19 continuing to affect the labor base, there are fewer available workers to be hired or send out to jobs. This slows down projects and contracts, which could affect you on your project. If you can do the project yourself, you may find you’ll get it done sooner. Even if it takes longer, it’ll be a lot less expensive with the cost of labor.

 

What sort of projects are you getting into in 2022?