Houses need a little TLC now and then. There are always new improvements to make, and one item on the list might be your windows. If they seem out of date or leak a lot of air, you’ll want options. But you want to focus on home upgrades that are worth the investment.
How much do new windows impact the property’s value? That can depend on several factors, but ultimately, you’ll find that they are a sound investment. Here at Advanced Auto Glass, we offer home window installation in Fort Worth and the surrounding area.
Improving Efficiency
One amazing way for new windows to help financially is by improving efficiency in your home. This will impact your utility bills and the overall value of the home if and when you try to sell.
New windows help efficiency in three ways: heating, cooling, and lighting. All three matter, but in Texas, the largest costs and savings opportunities are related to cooling. Cooling efficiency will overmatch heating and lighting combined, so let’s focus on that.
Better windows help keep the heat out in the summer. That lowers your cooling costs, and you will see that reflected in your bill.
When selling a home, any ability to demonstrate the efficiency of your HVAC (windows included) can add value to the home. It’s hard to estimate how much this will raise the final sale price, but it can certainly help the general salability of the house. This will get you more offers in a short time frame, and it creates competition that leads to a better final sale price.
Improving Security
Security changes and values largely depend on the windows you select and where you live. Security is much more important to some owners than others. Security styles can also vary. Ultimately, people want to feel safe in a home. So windows that help people feel that sense of safety while living up to other expectations are valuable.
Essentially, you can evaluate a window’s security value by assessing how likely the new window is to prevent burglary or home invasion. You can extract an expected value from that likeliness to see how much money the windows can save a homeowner.
That’s a little abstract, so here’s an easier way to think about this. If your windows improve home security, your insurance company would like to know about it. They may be willing to lower your insurance premiums because of improved security. You can talk to the insurance company about that. Any savings they extend to you have real value, and that value can be reflected in the sale price of the home too.
Improving Aesthetics
Windows impact the exterior view of the home. More importantly, they determine the natural lighting that gets into the living spaces. Improving the aesthetics won’t add a ton of value to a home, but they do have a positive impact.
Basically, you’re saving a new homeowner money that they don’t have to invest into new windows after they purchase the property. On average, a buyer will value new windows at about half of what you invest in them — especially if they provide good, quality natural lighting.
Improving Bathrooms and Kitchens
Bathrooms and kitchens are where you get the most out of a remodel. They retain so much value because they are very heavily used rooms, and everyone wants modern bathrooms and kitchens. A living room mostly depends on the furniture and how you stage it. Bathrooms and kitchens are harder and more expensive to change, so those remodels tend to matter more to prospective buyers.
Windows hold impact here. When bathroom or kitchen windows improve lighting and make the space more attractive, they add more value than they would in other parts of the home. So new windows for bathrooms and/or kitchens often bring in the best return on investment (ROI) because buyers don’t feel like they have to gut and remodel these expensive rooms. As always, the exact numbers will vary, but targeting bathrooms and kitchens with your new windows will usually get you the most bang for your buck.
How Much Are They Worth in Total?
Let’s get to some hard numbers. Once again, all of this varies on the windows in question, the house itself and market conditions. With that in mind, you can look at a very zoomed-out average.
Windows tend to get around an 85% ROI. So for every $100 you spend on new windows, your home value will go up by $85. Considering that the cost of replacing every window in an average house will run in the thousands of dollars, you’re looking at a meaningful boost to the value of the property.
That ROI is based on final sale prices. New windows can help sell a home faster, which is harder to monetize. They also offer those efficiency and insurance benefits, which can make up the missing 15% ROI.
Overall, new windows that improve form and function will improve the value of your house. If you want to browse options and find windows that you love that also net you the most benefit, contact Advanced Auto Glass today.
