Many things can cause property values to change. If you own a house, it’s important to know what can cause your home’s value to drop. You can’t change some of these things, like market conditions, interest rates, and the economy. But you can change others a lot. Renovations that don’t look good or not doing regular maintenance on your house are some projects that can lower its value. If you want to protect your house and get the most money back when you sell it, you should know what lowers its value.
1) Doesn’t look good from the street
If you want to sell your house, first impressions are very important. So, the way your home looks from the street should attract buyers and help it sell faster. It’s likely that people who are interested in buying your home will notice if the paint on the outside is chipping or if your trees and bushes look like they’ve seen better days. Luckily, you can make a few small changes to improve your home’s street appeal.
Change the paint on the outside. People who want to buy your home will often notice the color one of the first things. Paint that is cracking, chipping, or fading can make your home look awful from the street and lower its value.
The Exterior
Improve the lights outside. Now is the time to update your outdoor lighting if the path to your front door is dimly lit or the fixtures are old. Putting lights outside your house makes it feel warmer and cozier, and it also looks better with gardening. There are a lot of choices, like post lights, LED lights, solar lights, and wall mounts.
Get a new fence. Fences that are in bad shape look bad, draw attention away from your home, and lower its value. Putting up a new fence can give your yard a boost by making the plants look better and showing potential buyers that you care. Vinyl, metal, wrought iron, and composite are some of the different materials that can be used for fencing. Talk to experts to find out what kind of material will work best for you.
Landscaping
Greening up. To get more people to buy your home, make sure the landscaping is clean and easy to take care of. This will also make the home more valuable. Any landscape can be changed by just edging the beds, mulching the yard, and cutting back the trees and bushes.
Windows and Such
Clean the outside and windows. It doesn’t take long for dust, dirt, fingerprints, and even algae to build up on your windows and house. This can make your house look old and gray, which can lower its value.
Get a new front door. It’s not a surprise that front doors look old and worn after being used every day and being exposed to bad weather. Getting a new front door is an easy and inexpensive way to make your home look better from the street or add a splash of color.
2) Do-it-yourself projects gone wrong
Home improvement projects are something that many people do to make their place better to live in and enjoy, and they also do them to increase the value of their biggest investment. Most people start a job with the goal of making their home more valuable, whether it’s adding on a bathroom, a deck, or buying a house that needs work with the plan to sell it for a profit later on. No matter how great the projects are, they may not always go as planned and harm the value of your home.
Do you want to add on to your house, change the bathroom, or build a deck? Even if you’re great at doing small jobs yourself, it’s best to hire a pro for bigger remodels and repairs. They can lower the value of your home if they are not done correctly.
3) Not doing basic repairs
To keep your home in good shape, you need to do general home maintenance tasks on a daily basis. If you ignore your home and let it get out of hand, it will lose value, which could affect your selling price. The buyers will want to talk about fixes so that they don’t have to pay a lot of money after the sale. Because of this, most sellers want an inspection clause in their contract.
It is important to fix things that break. Hiring someone who does know how to fix it is also a good idea. In this way, problems will not get out of hand. If you wait too long, it usually costs more to fix problems. Watch out for issues with your roof, base, HVAC system, gutters, and if rodents or other pests start to show up. It’s important to get help right away if any of these problems happen.
4) Too much stuff
Over the years, everything in a home builds up, and most people don’t realize how much a mess their home has become until they’re getting ready to sell it. The same way that dirt and grime build up, so can junk. It is suggested that you get rid of some of your things if your room is too crowded. Give things away that you don’t need or want anymore, and hide things that you only use sometimes. Cleaning up is a cheap way to make something more valuable.
