Home Upgrades with the Best Payoff

When most people hear the word "remodel" the first areas of a home that often come to mind are the kitchen and bathrooms. However, while kitchens make up a respectable 28% of all home improvements and bathrooms 25%, neither of them are the number one home improvement renovation homeowners want to make in the coming year.  The number one home improvement renovation is... outdoor space!  Yes, that's correct.  An overwhelming 37% of all homeowners would like to make improvements to their outdoor space.  This includes landscaping, decks and patios, pools and home curb appeal.

Curb appeal is becoming an increasingly affordable and popular way to enhance your home's exterior appearance, functionality and resale value.  In fact, curb appeal is so popular that there are entire TV shows dedicated to it.  Americans spend millions of dollars each year to ehance the look, feal and fuctionality of their front and back years. 

Do you know what home upgrade has the best financial payoff?  It's certainly not what you would think.  The home improvement with the best rate of financial return is a home's front door which brings in an astonishing 102% return on investment!  Stone veneers come in at 92%, garage doors at 88% and wood decks at 81%.

If you don't want to go to the work and cost of adding a new front door, there are a couple of simple, low cost ways to spruce up your front door.  After all, the front door is one of the first things that a visitor to your home sees and gives them that first impression.  If you are thinking of selling your home, then you definitely need to make sure that all potential buyers are greeted by a front door that invites them in and want to see more!  Here are some easy ways to enhance the look of your current front door:

• New paint or varnish (make sure you sand the old paint or varnish first and thoroughly prep the surface)
• New hinges (even if you don't buy new ones make sure that the existing ones are oiled properly to allow the door to open and close easily and quitetly
• Add a peephole to see who is on the other side (this is a good safety feature to have anyway and is easy to install)
• Add a new door handle, knocker or other hardware.  At Star Door Parts we carry a wide variety of door knockers to install on your front door.  Check them out today!

Amazingly, garage doors and garage door improvements come in with a higher financial payoff than wood decks!  In order to improve your home's curb appeal and get a high rate of return, you don't need to spend thousands of dollars on new garage doors.  Instead, enhance the ones currently installed in your house.  It doesn't matter if your garage doors are wood, aluminum or other composite, it doesn't take a lot of money, time or experience to give your garage door that "new" look.  Things that you can do to enhance the appearance of your garage door include:

• New paint or varnish (make sure you sand the old paint or varnish first and thoroughly prep the surface).  If you want your doors to stand out think about painting them a difference color than the body of the house or color match them to the trim or fascia.
• Add windows to the top panel
• Add decorative hardware.  At Star Door Parts we sell a complete line of garage door decorative hardware.  Not sure how or where to start out?  No problem!  Simply start by selecting one of our many in-stock, low cost garage door decorative hardware kits that come in variety of styles.