If you own a home, you may enjoy living there very much. However, you’ll likely move on from that house eventually. Maybe you’ll move because you’re starting a family and you need more space. Perhaps you’re not as mobile as you once were and you don’t like climbing up and down the stairs.

While you live in a home, you can gradually do things to it that will add to the resale value when you decide to move on. We’ll talk about a few things you might do to a home to make it more desirable to a potential buyer right now.

Add a Unique Feature

Adding a unique feature can make your home more attractive when you decide to sell it. You can often determine what unique feature to add based on the land on which the property sits. For instance, someone purchasing a home in the Lake of the Ozarks might want to see a dock where they can keep their boat if the house is right next to the water.

If your house has a little bit of land that comes with it, you might add a pergola to the backyard. That’s a nice feature that a buyer might not necessarily expect. You can add something like a greenhouse to the backyard. You never know if your potential buyer might have a green thumb, and sustainable living might interest them.

Put on a New Roof

As a homeowner, you know that you have to repair your roof whenever it needs it. You might need to replace any shingles that blow off in high winds or rainstorms. However, you may also think about doing a total tear-off and roof replacement as a way to improve a home’s resale value.

You can often keep the same roof for anywhere from 15-30 years, on average. Most people will look to replace one about every 20 years. If you buy a home and live there for multiple decades, replacing the roof is almost an inevitability.

If you try to sell the house at some point, and your potential buyers see that you have a fairly new roof, that’s a key selling point. They’ll know they won’t have to replace the roof anytime soon if you have done that recently.

Replace the Windows

You might also think about upping the resale value by replacing the windows. Just like a new roof, you need to install new windows at some point, especially if you have older ones that don’t keep the heat inside during the winter and the cooler air during the summer.

If you replace the windows, you can mention that when you put the house on the market. Windows that fit well and are easy to clean can make a home a lot more attractive.

Even before you sell the home, you can enjoy your new windows. If you have double-hung ones, you should save on your energy bills. You can look for Energy Star certified windows if you’re thinking about better temperature regulation.

You can also add windows with grids if you want some additional curb appeal. They serve no practical purpose, but they can make a house appear cozier and more charming.

Add a Fence

If you have a good-sized backyard or front yard, you might consider fencing them in if you have not done so yet. Adding a fence is something that you may not immediately think to do as a homeowner, but you might sell the property more easily when the time comes that you want to put it on the market.

Maybe you will add a simple chain link fence. Those ones don’t cost very much. You can also add a wooden stockade-style fence with boards positioned horizontally.

Adding a fence makes the house seem more attractive to potential buyers with either kids or pets. If the buyer has kids, they will know the children can play in the yard and won’t run out into the street. They can also keep their dog in the yard where it can get some exercise, but it won’t run into the street or antagonize anyone who’s walking by.

Install a Sump Pump

Plumbing upgrades can sometimes help you sell a home, and adding a sump pump is high up on that list. Maybe you’ve got a house with a basement that floods if it rains very hard. If you try to sell your home, you have to mention that.

You can avoid telling a potential buyer about basement flooding if you fix the problem before you put the house on the market. If you contact the plumber and see if they can install a sump pump, that will drain the water that used to flood the basement.

You can have the sump pump divert any excess water into the backyard when it rains. When you do that, you not only keep the basement dry, but you also water the grass. You can have a lush, greener yard while removing excess water that could damage anything you try to keep in the basement.

If you’ve got a working sump pump and a dry basement, you could finish that basement as well. You can add carpeting and furniture and make better use of the space. The combination of the sump pump and a finished basement will surely attract some potential buyers.

You can consider doing things like adding backsplash in the kitchens and bathrooms. You might update the kitchen by adding an island, or you can paint the cabinets to make the space more colorful.

You can add new carpeting or hang some wallpaper. You might install built-in bookshelves or add a wet bar.

The longer you stay in your home, the more you can add to it. If you tackle one or two projects per year, that’s one way to avoid spending too much at one time. Often, you’ll get that money back when you eventually put the house on the market.