Marked Appreciation

A home generally appreciates in value between 3 and 4 percent each year, but not every home appreciates equally. While every market is different—and appreciation is naturally affected by factors homeowners can’t control there are certain home features that create greater appreciation than others.

Realtor.com did some research, analyzed millions of listings over the past five years and here’s what they found:

Size

Small homes are in high demand, especially by millennial first-time buyers. Homes smaller than 1,200 square feet appreciated an average of 7.5% a year for the past five years. Larger homes (more than 2,400 square feet) only rose by 3.8%.

Bedrooms

Two bedrooms appreciate 6.6% while five bedrooms appreciate just 4.3%.

Floor Plan

Open floor plans appreciate 7.4% a year—beating out other home features like a patio (6.8%), hardwood floors (5.7%), a fireplace (5.3%) and a finished basement (4.6%).

Style

Modern and contemporary architectural styles appreciate 7.7% a year. Bungalows and traditional homes appreciate at 6.5% and 5.6%, respectively.

Adjacency

Homes overlooking a park appreciate at 7.9% a year, hold value over a longer period of time and recover quickly from a downturn. Homes with mountain views appreciate 5.1% a year, while lake homes appreciate 4.9% annually.

Trouble-Free Move

An efficient, well-managed move not only saves you time and money, but it also can make the transition to your new home easier and more pleasant for your family. Here are 10 proven tips to help make your move a trouble-free experience from start to finish:

1. Set a budget and stick to it.

2. Hire reliable movers and be clear about your expectations and their company policies.

3. Take care of the details, such as utilities to be shut off or transferred, and contact your bank, credit card issuers and any other company that regularly sends you mail. Be sure to change your address with the post office.

4. Make a packing list. Go room to room and make an inventory list. Organize it first by room, then by type of item (i.e., furniture, linens, packable items, fragile items and valuables). Once you have a comprehensive list, use highlighters to color-code all items into three categories: keep, sell or give away.

5. Get rid of everything you don’t want or need.

6. Get a head start by first boxing things you use less often, such as off-season clothing, extra linens, tchotchkes or electronics. Clearly label the outside of each box with its contents and the room where it will go in the new house.

8. Prep your new home. If at all possible, go to your new home before moving day to clean and make sure the necessary utilities have been turned on.

9. Show the movers which items you want loaded last (and therefore unloaded first). Have as many items as possible ready to go - this should be close to everything in your home. Also, have a cash tip ready for each mover.

10. Donate canned goods and food items so you don’t have to move them. Organizations like Move for Hunger (moveforhunger.org) can help you clear out your pantry while also helping those in need. Move for Hunger works with a network of about 650 moving companies to deliver unwanted canned goods to local food pantries.