Common Home Repairs & Financing Options

While there are endless possibilities for home improvement and repair, evaluate which choices will have the greatest return on investment for you and your family as well as a potential buyer down the line. If you’re looking to start making some upgrades to your home but don’t know where to start, follow these tips for some common home repairs that are sure to boost your home value and your quality of life.

Interior Updates

When working on common home repairs, what better place to start than on the inside, where you and your family spend the most time.

What are some quick, cheap, and minor repairs you can make to the inside of your home today that will make your space a more pleasant place to be? 

Common Kitchen Home Repairs & Renovations 

First, we’ll take a look at the most important room in the house: the kitchen. Here is where you eat, cook, keep food and spend a decent amount of time. Kitchen upgrades of any size, can help to substantially increase the value of your home. According to Zillow, a minor kitchen upgrade has an 81.1 percent return on investment, with an average cost of $21,198. So what are some minor kitchen repairs we can make to increase the home value?

• Refinish cabinets

Replacing cabinets can be incredibly expensive. A cheaper alternative for when those aging cabinets start to show signs of wear and tear is to refinish or paint the cabinets. You can even replace the doors. This will make your kitchen look fresh and newer. While it is time-consuming and can you may want to do your research beforehand, it will save you money to do it this way. 

• Update light fixtures

One of the common and easy home repairs is to update the lighting in your kitchen. Out-dated and out-of-style lights, mismatched colors, and even burnt-out bulbs can easily be updated to something more modern like recessed lighting, but that can cost more money. A good place to start is to install LED lighting as it saves on energy costs and can have a nicer look than regular bulbs.

• Upgrade faucets

Switching out an old kitchen faucet for one that is new and updated is one of the quick, easy, common, and low-cost home repairs for your kitchen and can be done on your own or fairly low cost by a plumber. 

Bathroom Repairs & Renovations 

Another important consideration should be made to the bathrooms. According to Zillow, a midrange-level bathroom remodel costs an average of $19,134 and has a return on investment of 70.1 percent. That means there is clearly some importance to bathroom maintenance and remodeling.

What are some common and inexpensive home repairs to upgrade your bathroom and see a quick return on investment?

Fix What’s Broken

This first one may seem obvious, but it is the easiest way to immediately boost your home value and improve your quality of life. Is there a bad paint job, cracked tiles, water stains, dirty grout, leaky faucets?

Look at replacing these aging pieces with waterproof materials as they will last longer, reducing the amount of replacement you’ll need to do in the future. Some bathrooms may lack ventilation. A valuable and common home repairs project is to install a new fan or window to let the air and the natural light in.

Install New Toilet, Sink, Tub, and Shower

This may be the pricier option for remodeling your bathroom. However, updating these vital parts of your bathroom can boost your home value and make for a more pleasant living experience for you, your family, or future buyers. You can find out more about the cost breakdowns for redoing a bathroom and decide what works for your budget.

Deep Clean

If the costs were beginning to seem intimidating, these next common home repairs project can be done on minimal budget. If you want to make your bathroom feel new and fresh, sometimes the easiest and best thing to do is give everything a deep clean. This means getting rid of rust stains, scrubbing all surfaces, caulking, mop the floor, dust, sanitize, and leave everything polished. With some everyday household cleaning items, this can be done fast and for little to no cost.

Exterior Repairs & Renovations 

While it can be easy to forget about the outside of your home, it’s still the first thing people see and can make or break a sale if you’re not putting your best foot forward.

Whether you’re looking at common home repairs for the outside of your home after a natural disaster or just to repair some wear and tear, here are some tips for making those quick and easy exterior repairs to your home that will boost your home value and your life.

Yard Work and Landscaping

No one can deny that they prefer their lawn to be green and healthy-looking. While it can be time-consuming and sometimes more difficult than expected to achieve a beautiful lawn to make your neighbors envy, it isn’t impossible. Lawn care can be cheap and done without bringing in professionals. With a bit of research and following the advice of the experts, you can get your lawn in great shape to show off to potential buyers, guests, and even just passersby. Repairs to your home yard are a common practice and can provide a significant boost to your home value.

Powerwashing

No matter how much care we put into our homes, over time the signs of weather, age, and wear start to become apparent. One great way to keep your home looking new and well-maintained is to start the power washer or pressure washer. Learn more about how to use them and how they can make your home sparkle.

Pay Attention to Detail

Sometimes the most impactful home repairs projects are the simplest and most common. This also means cheap and quick, and who doesn’t love that! Here are a few easy ways to make your guests and potential buyers feel like they’re about to walk into the ideal home without having to break the bank:

• Get a new doormat
• Clean the gutters
• Install a new front door
• Apply new weatherstrips
• Eliminate weeds from grass
• Repair siding
• Fix broken deck boards
• Refinish deck
• Repaint
• Powerwash the driveway, walkways, and patio

Financing Your Repairs

No matter which way you cut it, in order to get common home repairs done, you’re going to need to have a plan for covering the costs. Here are a few options you can consider when the projects have to get done, but your wallet isn’t exactly full of disposable income.

Home Equity Loan

A home equity loan is a loan that uses your home as collateral and borrows against your home’s equity. It is a fixed-rate loan, as is the repayment of the loan term. You’ll make the fixed monthly payment on the home equity loan just as you would on your mortgage.

To qualify for this type of loan, lenders take several things into consideration, including:

• Credit score
• Bill payment history
• Outstanding debt
• Debt-to-income ratio

If you are considering a home equity loan to finance your common home repairs, its important to understand the risks that come with it. Defaulting on the payments can result in you losing your home, even while keeping up with mortgage payments. Home equity loans also typically come with higher interest loans than with traditional mortgages. If you’re looking to eventually sell your home and move, this can potentially make this difficult.

Personal Loan

Personal loans can help you finance repairs, renovations and additions to your home. This type of loan lets you finance home repairs without using your home as collateral and typically get you the cash quicker than other options. While the monthly payments are fixed, meaning you can expect the same payment amount every month, this type of loan is also unsecured, so the interest rates can be higher than a home equity loan.

Sale-Leaseback

If you’re concerned about funding these common home repairs but know that they are something you want to do to increase your home value, another solution is looking into a sale-leaseback program. This allows you to sell your home, converting your home equity to the cash you need to complete your home repairs. However, instead of moving out, you get to remain in the home as a renter, so you can work toward getting the home into great shape.

Key Takeaways

With these common home repairs, you can get your home on track to sell at top dollar or just ensure you and your family have a safe and beautiful home to live in. These repairs can be simple without burning a hole in your pocket. Reach out to an expert to learn more about how a sale-leaseback can work for your goals.