When It Comes to Your Home's Value, Some "Improvements" Are Better Than Others

If you're like most of us, your home is one of the most valuable things that you own. So it stands to reason that taking care of it over the years is of utmost importance.

And that leads us to home improvements, which probably anyone who has ever owned a home has undertaken. Some are minor, like replacing wallpaper with a fresh coat of paint or ripping up your carpeting to expose or lay beautiful new hardware floors.

Others are more extensive, of course, and can range from upgrading your kitchen or bathroom with new fixtures to even something as major as adding a couple of new rooms to your home.

But did you know that some home improvements can significantly add value to your home, while others can be a bit of a "money pit?"

Today, we're going to go over some of the best, and also some of the worst, home improvements you can undertake. For our purposes today, the terms "best" and "worst" refer to whether or not they add value to your home and property.

This is especially useful information if you plan on selling your family home anytime in the near future, as you'll want to get top dollar when going through that process.

Okay, so let's take a look at the best and worst home improvements when it comes to selling your home. We'll start with the good...

• New Appliances. If you're planning to sell your home, a new set of kitchen appliances can really help this important room of the home come to life. Sellers have consistently stated over the years that the kitchen is one of the most important rooms of the home when it comes to making improvements, and studies have shown they're often willing to pay a little more to avoid the hassle of making these types of purchases themselves.
• Granite Countertops. Staying in the all-important kitchen, granite countertops have become very popular over the last decade or two and are almost always a good decision when it comes to improving the look and feel of your kitchen. And they certainly hold their value, with this important improvement also ranking high on buyers' wish lists.
• Hardwood Flooring. We mentioned this above in our introduction, but hardwood flooring is all the rage these days. Carpeting is still preferred in certain instances, but you can't go wrong by installing some gleaming hardwood in a few rooms of your home. And you also don't have to worry about choosing a color of carpeting that sellers are going to like. If you want to make an improvement to your home that will have lasting value, hardwood flooring is definitely a good choice.

What else made our list of good and bad home improvements? Find out here...