Purchasing a home is the most expensive investment many people make in their lifetime. Unfortunately, many people are clueless about the value of their home and the things that could ruin it. Although you cannot control certain things that affect the value of your home such as proximity to amenities and crime rates, you can control others such as your home’s appearance.
Here are ten things that will ruin the value of your home.
- Messy Neighbor – If you have messy neighbours whose homes and yards look shoddy, there is a high probability that they will decrease your home’s value. Homebuyers do not want to live near a property with an overgrown yard and clutter.
- Fracking Activities – Fracking is a method used to mine shale gas. It causes massive pollution and other forms of environmental damage. If your home is near a fracking site, its value may be threatened. Fracking compromises drinking water and the public perceives it negatively.
- Bad Schools – Homebuyers often look at the quality of schools around the home they intend to purchase. Property located in low ranking schools and closed down schools has a low value.
- Certain Renovations – Home innovations increase a home’s resale value. However, some innovations are unattractive to buyers. For instance, a swimming pool in cold environments can keep off buyers because they have to maintain it even though they don’t use it regularly.
- Colour and Interior Design – The interior and exterior colours of your home may ruin its value. Very bright colours and patterns in both the interior and exterior may discourage buyers and decrease the value of your home.
- An Unkempt Yard – Landscaping can improve the resell value of your home. An untidy yard full of weeds and overgrown plants can keep off potential buyers.
- City Dumps and Power Plants – The stench from city dumps and the pollution from power plants have the capacity to drag down property value. This is particularly true in residential areas near landfills.
- Excessive Noise Pollution – Noise pollution is prominent in decreasing the value of a residential property. If your home is near a busy highway, airport or train track, the constant noise may push down its value.
- Lack of Natural Light – People love natural light and a lack of it may see a home’s potential value decrease. Natural light makes a home more inviting and appealing and cuts down electricity bills.
- Smoking – Smoking is not only harmful to your health but also to property value. It causes a stench that affixes itself to furniture, carpets and walls that won’t go away no matter how many cans of air freshener you use. Buyers avoid houses with tobacco fumes or take thousands off the price. If you smoke, you can consider switching to vape juice so that you don’t have to tackle things like odour and discolouration that dampen property value.
Numerous factors can dampen the value of your home from unappealing renovations to messy neighbours. A house is a great investment and hence the need to preserve its long-term value. When buying a home, do not let the interiors appeal to you that you forget the external factors that influence its value.