Worth It: A Fire Pit
There’s huge demand right now for upgrades that maximize your yard, such as outdoor kitchens, outdoor living rooms, even features as simple to add as a fire pit. “The more you can do to make your backyard feel like an extension of your home, the more attractive your home will be to buyers—and the more money you can fetch,” says Stults.
Worth It: Landscaping
Curb appeal isn’t just about your home’s exterior paint color. Landscaping—say, a pristine-looking lawn or making the effort to plant shrubs in vibrant colors that pop—actually counts for a lot, says Stults.
Worth It: A Home Office
Thanks to COVID-19 and the increasing option to work from home, this space is more important than ever before, Stults explains. Buyers are eager to see a dedicated home office in the listing, and sellers are quick to highlight them. If you don’t have this space already carved out on your property, it pays to do what you can to stage one, says Stults. “Don’t be afraid to get creative. You can make a home office in a nook under the stairs, in an unused part of the dining room, or even in a closet,” she explains. “In fact, there’ a big surge on Pinterest right now for inspiration around designing a ‘cloffice’—a portmanteau of the word ‘office’ and ‘closet.’”