Mortgage Blog

Top Home Upgrades to Boost Your Property’s Value

We’ve sorted the chores by cost so you can consider your budget first and foremost. Now, let’s get to work!

Under $100 

Perhaps the best bang for your buck is to focus on the front of the house. A few inexpensive ideas are to paint the front railing, upgrade the mailbox, or change the numbers on your house. You’ll also get a lot of value from some yard maintenance, like raking, picking up the pinecones, cutting the grass, or planting a few flowers. Do you know why flowers are so popular? They have a lot of buds. ????

Looking at the inside of the house, something almost all of us could benefit from is  decluttering. Go through kitchen drawers and cupboards, closets, and even review the décor in your home. If you still have one of those tall vases with some wheat coming out of it, it’s time to let that go. While you’re scrutinizing every nook and cranny, make sure all the lightbulbs work—and replace any that are burnt out.

Under $500

This budget can get you pretty far if you’re willing to DIY some projects. For example, you could get some paint and supplies and paint a whole new colour into your home. Start with a room or even just an accent wall to make the project more manageable. Another option is to put a firepit in your yard. Seeing and using the space in a new way might make you fall in love with the home all over again. 

Another option is to tackle some small upgrades, like new knobs on the kitchen drawers, replacing a toilet seat with an upgraded bidet, or even installing a new light fixture that brightens up a room. Some door handles might need replacing or you may even want to add some curtains or a window treatment to the most used rooms in your home.

Under $1000

Perhaps the biggest suggestion in this category is a professional cleaner. Having someone come in and truly scrub the baseboards, inside the oven, and all those other sneaky little places will make your house look instantly better. Be sure to make a list of what needs the most attention and prioritize the tasks when you hire the cleaner. You could also get your carpets professionally cleaned – they’ll both look and feel much better. 

Another idea is to add some tech into your home, like a smart thermostat, lighting, or a camera-based security system. These can be relatively easy to install on your own which is a great way to save some money.

Under $2500

We’re going to start with an interesting one here, which is to upgrade your front door to a steel door. Based on the numbers online, you’ll make back 188% of the value at resale, so think of it as an investment. 

If you’ve got hardwood floors, getting them refinished will make a big difference aesthetically in your home. If that’s not a direction you want to go, you could also upgrade the space with a high-quality area rug.

Under $5000

The first suggestion is to upgrade your bedroom closets to custom designs. Make the space more functional for the clothes, shoes, and accessories you have. It will not only make getting dressed easier, but the entire space will be easier on the eyes.

The second suggestion is to install a new garage door. Whether it’s a newly automatic door or simply a better-looking replacement, a new garage door has been shown to recoup 194% of its cost at resale. And if resale isn’t the direction you’re going, you can still use the new door and have your property looking better quickly.

Unrestricted budget 

This next section is something you’re almost certainly better off hiring a professional to tackle. These are much more time and labour intensive, so be sure to research the cost and get quotes from professionals before launching into any of them. Here are a few suggestions:

• Replace the roof. Speaking of roofs, do you know why the roof went to the doctor? It had shingles.

• Redo the kitchen to modern design with new appliances like a gas stove, convection oven, double dishwasher, tech-heavy fridge, or other things you’ve had on your bucket list

• Add an addition to the home with an office space

• Replace windows with energy efficient ones and include window dressings

The bottom line here is that no matter how big or how small your budget is, there are plenty of things you can do to spruce up your home and either enjoy it more yourself or increase its value to a potential buyer.

Economic Insights from Dr. Sherry Cooper

Trump’s assurances that tariff talks were progressing did little to stop the rout. Wealth has been obliterated as stocks have sold off everywhere, and the US dollar has weakened to a 15-month low. The benchmark 10-year fell, with the yield close to 4.4%. As investors turned away from US securities, haven assets climbed. Gold jumped to another record, above $3,400 an ounce, while the Swiss franc gained more than 1% against the dollar.

The weakness also spread to the US credit market. In derivatives, the cost of protecting a basket of high-grade credit securities against default rose to the highest over a week. Three investment-grade companies looked at selling bonds on Monday.

The US president took to Truth Social, escalating his attack on the Fed chair, insisting there was “virtually” no inflation and it was time for “preemptive cuts.” The last reading of the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge remains above the central bank’s target. There will be a new readout next week.

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said on Friday that Trump is studying whether he can fire Powell. The comments raised new questions about whether the Fed can maintain its longstanding independence, with the president increasingly venting dissatisfaction in harsh terms that the central bank hasn’t moved faster to lower interest rates.

“Were Powell to be fired, the initial reaction would be a huge injection of volatility into financial markets and the most dramatic rush to the exit from US assets possible,” said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone. “Not only is the independence of the Fed clearly under threat, but the prospect of de-dollarisation and a move away from US hegemony is increasingly realistic.”

Hedge fund elites have echoed this concern. According to people present, Paul Singer, founder of Elliott Investment Management, warned recently at a private event in Abu Dhabi that the US dollar might lose its reserve currency status.

Rebuking the Fed risks politicizing US monetary policy in a way that markets find deeply unsettling.

“Frankly, firing Powell stretches belief,” said Wong. “If the credibility of the Fed is called into question, it could severely erode confidence in the dollar.”

Fed Chicago President Austan Goolsbee warned against efforts to curtail the central bank’s independence. “There’s virtual unanimity among economists that monetary independence from political interference — that the Fed or any central bank be able to do the job needs to do — is essential,” Goolsbee said on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday.

Legal scholars say that a president can’t dismiss a Fed chair easily, and Powell has previously said he wouldn’t resign if asked by Trump.

Trade War

Trump’s tariff offensive also weighed a heavy burden on markets amid worries about a financial slump.

“The global economy is buffeted by a US war on trade, which we believe generates a large enough economic shock to threaten the life of the US and global expansion,” wrote Bruce Kasman, chief economist at JPMorgan Chase.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slid 0.7% on Monday—every Group-of-10 currency gained against the greenback, including the Canadian dollar. The yen jump weighed on stock indexes in Japan, pushing the Nikkei 225 down 1.3%.

The yen, euro and Swiss franc rallied. WTI crude fell more than 2% to below $64 a barrel. This and eliminating the consumer carbon tax should keep April inflation close to the target level.

As a sign that investors are rotating investments away from the US, Deutsche Bank AG said that Chinese clients had reduced some of their Treasury holdings in favour of European debt. European high-quality bonds, Japanese government bonds and gold are likely to be the potential choices for investors as alternatives to Treasuries.

With this backdrop, the Canadian economy has slowed precipitously. A Canadian recession likely began in the second quarter as consumer and business confidence plunged to record lows. While the details of the imposed levies are uncertain, there is no question that layoffs in the most vulnerable sectors, such as auto manufacturing, are just the tip of the iceberg. Other highly vulnerable sectors include agriculture, mining and minerals, energy, and lumber.

Once the Canadian election is behind us, the most critical next step would be renegotiating the USMCA—the free trade agreement initially negotiated by the first Trump administration.

Tariff turmoil and rising longer-term interest rates have sideswiped Canada’s housing markets, especially in Toronto and Vancouver, where overbuilding and rising new listings have led to a marked decline in the sales-to-new-listings ratio. Home prices are soft, and sellers are motivated.

While the Bank of Canada moved to the sidelines at the April 16 meeting, we believe incoming data will confirm that a recession is imminent. Although trade restrictions put upward pressure on prices, the central bank will no doubt respond if one-shot price hikes feed into an inflationary cycle.

Because Canada is far more interest rate sensitive and depends critically on trade with the US, our economic reaction is likely to be the canary in the coal mine. The Bank of Canada will undoubtedly respond to recessionary pressure by decreasing the overnight policy rate to 2.0%-to-2.25% in the next few months. This should help to spur housing activity where pent-up demand for housing is growing.