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MONEY COMMENT
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One of the main reasons people re-mortgage is to release some equity to spend on home improvements, not just to make a home more comfortable but also to increase the re-sale value. According to a recent survey by the Nationwide Building Society, adding an extra bathroom will put nearly 10% on to the worth of your home or, if you live in London, more than 15%. The survey looked at what determines the price of a property. Location, location, location is still key to the value of a property and houses that are more than 100 years old tend to attract higher prices, although bungalows are surprisingly popular. Brand new houses also command a premium, though not as much as before. Twenty years ago, a new build home could attract up to 30% more than a similar older property but now the premium has shrunk to just 8%. The Nationwide attributes this mainly to the fact that more houses are being squished onto smaller plots of land. However, these are fixed considerations. The changeable ones involve home improvements. An extra bedroom, particularly if it's a decent size, can add nearly 11%, as well as saving you several thousand quid in moving costs since it will probably negate the need to upgrade to a bigger house. And I don't know how anyone can live without full central heating these days, but did you know that installing it could add about 13% to the value of your home? So if you've got room in the loft or space above the garage, consider converting it. If you can get a bedroom and bathroom out of it, the pay-off could be even more than you thought. More: Homeowning Centre