We all know the main three ways we can make money in real estate. Cash flow, mortgage pay down and appreciation.That’s the bread and butter of your real estate investing business but there is a fourth way you can make money in real estate.That is through smart
renovations.These strategic renovations can really blow the minds of your tenants and prospective buyers when they come through the property or see the property advertised online.
Solar panel Installation
Solar increases market value for your house and offsets your electricity bill. Depending on the region that you’re in, what happens to that electricity once your solar panels produce it depends on the rules and regulations in your areas so do keep that in mind. How much installing solar panels actually reduces your electricity bill will depend on the size of your solar system and the amount of electricity you consume monthly or annually.
LED lighting Upgrade
Another renovation that’s really cheap and really easy to do is to upgrade to LED lighting. It makes a massive difference in how the space looks. If you have those popcorn ceilings and those acoustic ceilings, scrape them and add some recessed lighting. You can save on labor if you do it yourself. You’ll be amazed at how modern and clean a room looks just by scraping the ceilings and putting in some recessed lighting up there.
Renovating Your Kitchen
You want to spend the majority of our money in your budget on your kitchen.This is not surprising since that’s the hub of the home. This is where people spend most of their time so that’s what we really want to make nice.What you want to do is use a light-colored kitchen at least right now that’s kind of what’s happening. You might want to use white cabinets with a light countertop as well.
Kitchen remodeling has the highest average ROI. However, you coil;d end up not recouping your investment if you overspend on renovating the kitchen.
Renovating Your Bathroom
People spend a lot of time in the bathroom. You should consider using double sinks you’ve heard of his-and-her sinks, right? That’s what really attracts the buyers and the renters, You also want to make that color palette very light. Use a white hexagon floor with a black grout and white subway tiles around the tub. Another bathroom renovation idea is using a kind of a cool IKEA floating vanity.
Renovating Your Flooring
Another thing you want to spend your money on is flooring. People really like seamless floors that go throughout. Not everyone likes it when there’s one type of flooring in the kitchen another type of flooring in the living room another type of flooring in the bedrooms upstairs etc
Having the same flooring throughout the whole house makes it seamless. The house has flow and it seems bigger and brighter. That’s what you want when trying to sell a property or find a tenant you want to make things look bigger, and look better than they actually are. You should consider using a light-colored floor.
Renovating the Exterior
The outside looks like crap, you got weeds growing over the window, grass looks terrible etc Why don’t you do something about it? Despite the frequent warning people will always judge a book by its cover.
You really want to just pay attention to the exteriorI You don’t want to spend as much here but pay attention to the curb appeal. Cut the grass at least, and take the garbage off the front line.You also want to pull the weeds that are six feet tall.
Increase the Light and the Space of the House
Dark cramped rooms are no good when it comes to real estate. Nobody wants to buy or rent a house like that. One thing you can do to your house to increase the value of your property is to open it up to create more of a flow and enhance the natural light. You can consider knocking down some walls to brighten up the space if you have the ability to do that and have an open floor plan.
More on Home Improvements
Home improvement may include projects that upgrade an existing home interior, roofing, flooring, appliances, or any other such improvements on the house. The home is enhanced with additional features and amenities to make the house more user friendly, comfortable and attractive. Home improvements do not necessarily entail structural changes, renovations and alterations to a house.
Tax Deductions
Many home improvements are eligible for tax deductions under the tax benefits act. Under the tax benefits act, home improvements made during the year are eligible for tax deductions.
These tax deductions are available to individuals, businesses and nonprofits and any organization can avail these tax benefits. Individuals are eligible for deductions based on the total value of the improvement made during the year and it does not matter whether the improvement was made on your own or on behalf of anyone else.
For individuals, home improvements made during the year for the purpose of earning income are eligible for deductible expenses. In addition to this, if your home is used for business purposes by you or your spouse or any other family member, then you can also claim expenses related to such use of your personal residence.
Similarly, if you or any other member of your family or any other person in your household use any major portion of the house as his or her permanent place of living, then he or she can also claim expenses for rent and utilities.
However, if you have to rent out your personal residence, you can deduct expenses for expenses paid for insurance for protecting the house. As a proof of the above, you will have to provide the IRS with a return, duly signed by you stating the nature of your profession, the number of rooms in your personal residence and the amount of money you earn annually from renting the house.