Bathrooms must look their best if they’re going to help sell your property and so it is worth investing some time and money into making them stand out.
Although adding a totally new bathroom or fully replacing your existing one can come at a substantial cost, it can really pay off.
Research by HSBC revealed that a new bathroom can add £3,500 or more to the price of a property.
This luxury bathroom is in a six-bedroom detached house in London’s Corringway, which is for sale via estate agents Yopa for £1,675,000
Rachel Dickman, a local estate agent from Yopa’s Liverpool team, said: ‘A warm and inviting bathroom, with added moments of luxury, can help buyers to build an emotional attachment to a home.’
Of course, you don’t have to rip out your bathroom and start from scratch to make an impact. If you’re working with a lower budget, there are still plenty of ways to create a dream bathroom that adds value to your home.
If you’re looking at ways to add value to your home while creating your dream bathroom, here are six top six tips from fixed-fee online estate agent Yopa…
1. Inject some luxury
First things first, a great bathroom should have a hint of luxury. And we’re not talking about lavish wallpapers and solid gold tiles, it’s all about high performance, luxurious features.
If you want to create a dream bathroom and add value to your home, make sure you don’t scrimp on eye-catching features. Think under-floor heating, power showers, whirlpool baths, and heated towel racks.
Of course, you don’t have to include all of these features, just the ones that make sense in your bathroom.
2. Keep it neutral
This neutral bathroom features in a four-bedroom detached house in West Yorkshire’s Ossett, which is on the market with estate agents Yopa for £500,000
Although greens, blues, and even brown bathrooms were once all the rage, today most people prefer standard white suites and fixtures.
If you’re adding a new bathroom into your home with the view to adding value to your property, it’s worthwhile keeping things relatively neutral. Of course, you can still stamp your own identity on your new bathroom, but try to keep the suite itself as inoffensive as possible. You can inject colour and character through the walls, lighting, and accessories.
This will ensure that potential buyers can visualise themselves putting their own mark on your existing bathroom, rather than calculating how much it will cost them to rip it out and replace it.
3. Accessories
This bathroom has some well-placed accessories and is part of an eight-bedroom farm house in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire – which is for sale for £1,250,000 via estate agents Yopa
If your bathroom suite is relatively neutral, accessories are a great way to inject a touch of personality into your bathroom and prevent it from looking too clinical. Think towels, mirrors and plants.
Of course, your buyer isn’t going to be buying those accessories, but creating that impression can help to secure a higher price.
4. Fix anything that doesn’t work
Buyers will be put off by things such as dripping taps and broken lights which, although they may not be major issues themselves, many may view as a sign of more significant, underlying issues.
This bathroom is in a two-bedroom semi-detached house in Dorset’s Christchurch, which has an asking of £335,000 and is being sold by estate agents Yopa
5. Add an extra bathroom
Rather than updating your existing bathroom, if you’ve got the space, then adding a whole new, extra bathroom to your property will allow you to create your dream bathroom from scratch, while also adding considerable value to your home.
An extra bathroom can provide a decent selling point for any property, particularly as we see an increasing demand for en suites. According to one study, an extra bathroom could add an average of 6 per cent to the value of your property.
This spacious bathroom is in a five-bedroom detached house in Cheshire’s Tarporley, which is on the market via estate agents Yopa for £1.6million
6. Add an en suite
Adding an en suite can add real value to your home, with many buyers seeing it as a highly desirable feature.
Having an additional bathroom attached to a bedroom is not only convenient, it can also give guests or residents some personal space. Above all, it’s a luxury that will add a substantial amount of value to your home.
This ensuite bathroom is included in a seven-bedroom detached house in Lancanshire’s Clitheroe, which is for sale via estate agents Yopa for £1,395,000