Appraiser Secrets: Fireplaces Increase Home Value

If you are considering selling your home, applying for a mortgage, or looking to refinance your current mortgage, there is a good chance that an appraiser will come to determine the value of your house. So what can you do to maximize that magic figure? What do appraisers look for?

A recent article on About.com listed six items an appraiser looks for when determining the market value of your house:

• Location
• Square footage
• Bedrooms
• Bathrooms
• Fireplaces
• Construction material

Now that you know your fireplace is a valuable asset, you can take advantage of this by turning it into a selling point. Remodeling an ugly fireplace might seem like an expensive or imposing task, but you have several options that offer great returns on a modest investment of time and money.

Paint that Ugly Brick

Compared to tearing out the entire fireplace and replacing it, painting over ugly fireplace brick is a quick and almost painless project. Best of all, the price—at a fraction of the cost of hiring a contractor, you can get a do-it-yourself fireplace paint kit on the internet. This includes everything you need to give your newly painted fireplace the look of real brick.

Frame Your Fireplace with a New Mantle

The mantle of a fireplace is like the frame around a picture—and you wouldn’t put a Monet in a thrift store frame, would you? Try a hand-made wooden fireplace mantel to transform your old, boring fireplace into the centerpiece of the room. You will be amazed at the difference it can make. And with a little do-it-yourself elbow grease, you can save some big bucks.

Clean It Up

One of the simplest but most effective remodels for a working fireplace is simply cleaning the fireplace soot and grime accumulated on the bricks. It’s like giving your fireplace a facelift.

Remember that getting a nice big figure back from the appraiser is only half the battle—you’ve still got to sell your house. And a newly remodeled fireplace can help make your home stand out in an increasingly saturated market.