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You may not be aware of it but many home improvements really do not increase the value of the home as much as they end up costing you. If you are considering the sale of your home and want to increase its value there are some home improvement tips that you can do that will actually help increase the value.

For example, before showing your home to prospective buyers, de-clutter it; experts claim that this is considered as much as a 970% average return on your investment just by cleaning it. Store items that you do not need in boxes or containers in an attic or basement, or better yet, in a separate storage facility; if need be, have a garage sale prior to having an open house.

More home improvements tips that increase the value of your home include making the house brighter; by simply replacing burned out bulbs or bulbs with low wattage, to a higher wattage and keeping your curtains and blinds open during open house you can expect an approximate 855% average return. Another is to make sure that your yard is free from clutter and that your grass is a healthy green. If possible hire a landscaper or gardener to trim everything back; this will gain you an average return of about 420%.

Additional home improvement tips include what is called “staging”; purchase some live plants and flowers or other new decorations and placing them around your home. You may also want to get rid of old furniture and large items that take up a lot of room in order to give the area a bigger more open appearance and gives you an average return of 250%.

Updating your bathroom and kitchen, nets a return of about 165% and can be accomplished by painting cabinets with a neutral color, replace old and dated fixtures with newer ones. It is also advisable to redo the grout in your sinks, tubs, showers and counter-tops; as well as using fresh caulking where necessary.

A few other home improvement tips that will increase the value of your home include painting the inside of your house (140% return). Patch all of the holes, cracks or chips and then touch up or repaint with a neutral color. Basically, anything that you can do to outwardly clean up the appearance of something will help to increase your homes value.

A recent homebuyer’s report from Halifax shows a substantial up to 20% growth in the London property prices during the first six month of the year 2007. It sounds like a good news for the sellers. At same time the rising market is more demanding when it comes to the quality of accommodation and therefore it requires additional efforts from the sellers.London buyers are particularly aware of the recent trends and home standards and very often they would like to move in straight away without doing any improvements on the property.

To increase saleability of a property it should correspond to the buyers expectations. An interior designer with experience for pre-sale refurbishment can achieve amazing results in the shortest time. The new bathroom and kitchen are leading the hit parade of the home improvements that would increase the value of the property…..assuming it is done properly and preferably professionally. Low quality DIY jobs completed wihout any knowledge of building regulations and current interior design trends would not increase the value of the property but can even decrease it. To avoid costly mistakes it pays off to comission a professional interior design specialist. A designer would be able to conceive, organize and supervise the project making sure that the final result would greatly appeal to the prospective buyers.

Saving on materials used for the work is another reason to employ an interior designer who would know exactly where to purchase necessary materials and appliances and would pass 10-20% discount to the customer. Another reason is time management. Many property owners don’t quite realise how much input of time and knowledge their project will take. It is particularly difficult when one is in the regular employment, that means that the project might last for years robbing of relaxing week-ends and in the end the final product would not necessary be ideal.

The skills of an interior designer are frequently used by the property developers. Although most experienced property developers would nearly instinctively know what type of interior finish would appeal to their market, they find that contracting an interior designer achieve better standards thus increasing the price of the property and consequently their profits. Many prestigious residential developments around the country and in London in particular would pride themselves in the quality level of their new homes. An interior designer would add a “wow factor” and a special home comfort touch to the interiors which would make them more marketable among style-conscious new buyers.

It is a common knowledge by now that attractive properties have higher rate of success with the prospective buyers. They conquer the hearts from the first visit and as a rule never stays on the market for long time. Even if one doesn’t want to make a total refurbishment of the house it would make sense to invite an interior design specialist to advise you on some inexpensive but highly valuable improvement in the interior. We get used to our interiors but very often the interior created would only appeal to the limited number of prospective buyers and therefore some changes are essential to achieve a sale. In the recent years such interior design service as home staging is growing up in popularity. A professional interior designer would help to create a fresh appealing to the potential buyers look by de-cluttering the space, changing furniture layout and adding a few stylish accessories. The results wouldn’t make you wait…

There are many interior designers in London; look for their membership/affiliation to the professional bodies. So why not contract an interior designer and … increase the value of your property?