How To Add Value To Your Home By Going Green

The last few years have shown that the property market is not as stable as many of us thought. Generally, the attitude is that you can’t go wrong putting money into property because over time it is going to increase in value, but the price plunges of recent years showed otherwise. Many homeowners are now stuck in homes their families are outgrowing and under financial pressure. What can anyone do to increase the value of a home that cannot realistically be expanded that also makes financial sense? Go green.

Lowering the cost of heating and cooling your home not only saves you money over time, it increases the value of your house. And you can’t put a price on knowing you are doing the right thing for the Earth as well. So what can you do? You can improve your insulation and add solar panels to really cut your electric bill while pushing up the value of the property.

Two Key Steps to Take

You can do many things to reduce your impact on the environment such as recycle, use public transport and chose organic, but those things will not add value to your home. If you want to add value to your home and protect the environment at the same time, there are two major things you can do: improve your home’s insulation and add solar panels.

1.    Most homes lose a shocking amount of heat in the winter due to poor insulation. Adding modern, improved insulation to the attic will make a big difference, but don’t forget smaller things such as draught insulation around doors and windows. In the summer, these same steps will help keep the home cool, especially if you are using air conditioning.  Good insulation helps you avoid waste and unnecessary expense. You’ll use less heat and air conditioning if you protect your home from the temperature outside.

2.    Adding solar panels to generate some or all of your own electricity takes you a step further. You aren’t just preventing waste; you are creating savings. While it does take money to get a solar system installed, it will pay for itself over time and boost your home’s value. If you decide to sell, having solar panels will give you an edge over the other properties on the market in the area. The lifespan of a solar panels is a decades – some experts say up to 40 years. If you were to sell your house even as much as 10 or 15 years after adding solar panels, the next owners would still have more than 20 years before they had to consider replacing them.

If you are starting to feel squeezed in your current home as your family grows, but can’t expand the house, it’s time to start looking at sensible ways to add value so when the time comes your home can compete in the real estate market. Adding insulation and solar panels in Yorba Linda will give your house an edge and save you money in the meantime.