Of all the investments you make, property is one in which a return on your cash is almost guaranteed. However, carrying out home improvements can increase the size of this return.
Research first
If you are looking to sell your property for a profit, you need to do your research first before submitting any plans for changes to the property. This is because what you think a property needs and what the market is telling you that it needs, can be two very different things.
Back in the 1960s, people were looking to buy a property with a fitted, indoor toilet and bathroom. Nearly 60 years later, buyers are often looking for a two-bathroom property.
Thus, it pays to do your research so that when you invest in the changes, they are coveted improvements like polished concrete floors, worktops, underfloor heating and so on.
#1 The kitchen
By far, the biggest and best improvement you can make is to the kitchen area of a home.
This doesn’t always mean, however, choosing the latest flat-pack kitchen from a high street store. Depending on your property, it may mean creating your own and concrete is the perfect material for this.
As well as adding a polished concrete floor, you can also use concrete to create worktops and other features.
Once poured and cured, or set, concrete can be buffed and polished to a high sheen. You can also elect to have the concrete coloured such as black with light, sparkles in it to give the appearance of marble or similar. You can have the worktops a different colour to the floor, or opt for the seamless look between floor, worktops and so on.
Adding lighting is also a great way of giving your newly created and fitted kitchen the edge over others because, after all, the idea of home improvements is to entice the buyer to buy your property, over and above others on the market in the same price range.
#2 The hallway
You may not have expected to see the hallway at the number two spot of adding value to your home but the hallway is an often overlooked area of the home.
It is the place where people congregate as they leave and enter a property; it is a place where by default, shoes, boots and coats tend to be stored. The stairs will also be evident, as is the case in most hallways.
It is the space in which potential buyers will form their first impressions – and this takes seconds. Knowing this, it makes sense that the hallway also needs to be revamped and updated to look modern, clean and clutter-free.
Hallway floors tend to be the last on the list when it comes to choosing a floor covering and in many ways, this is why polished concrete floors are perfect for hallways and porches. Easy to keep clean, non-slippery and buffed to a high shine, the hallway floor can not only look stunning but also create the overall favourable impression that you need to turn potential buyers, into buying buyers.
#3 Energy efficiency
An energy efficient property is no longer optional, but essential. When selling a property, it will need to be assessed and assigned an energy rating. The better this energy rating, the cheaper the house is to heat.
This is not only means the right insulation in the right places but a cost-effective means of heating the home. When renovating or building a property, many people are opting for underfloor heating, a system that works incredibly well with polished concrete floors.
For this heating system to work to the best of its advantage, the top layer of flooring needs to not only grab the heat (conductivity) but also be an efficient means of heating the room. Concrete is perfect as it can grab the heat from the piping laid beneath it, heating the floor which then heat the space above it.
These are just three ideas to not only improve the home, but add value too. Other high end rooms that concrete would work well in as flooring is a bespoke designed bathroom. How will you improve your home?
Midland Polished Concrete is a company specialising in concrete. Using this versatile material, they are able to create high-end flooring, worktops and so on that will improve your home not only for living in, but when the time comes to sell.
