Buying a home is one of the biggest investments you’ll ever make but maintaining your home’s value is sometimes that’s often forgotten by homeowners. The last thing you want to do is ruin or decrease your home’s value but many homeowners are doing so without even knowing it.
Here are 10 of the most common ways people ruin their home’s value
#1. They’ve purchased a home near a power plant or city dump.
Research has shown that homes next to a city dump or powerplant can decrease the home’s value anywhere from 5% to nearly 8%. Most landfills are in heavily populated areas but even homes within a mile or two from a power plant can drop as much as 7% of the home’s value.
#2. Messy neighbors.
These are external things that you can’t even do anything about but having a hoarder or messy neighbor nearby can really drag the value of your home down up to 10%. Peeling paint, overgrown yards, junk cars in the driveway or simply a lot of “stuff” lying around can really harm your own home’s value. Really the only thing you can do is offer to help your neighbor clean up their area in the kindest way possible.
#3. Noisy neighbors.
This might scare off potential homebuyers just as much as a messy neighbor. These external factors can lower a home’s value anywhere from 5% to 10%. It’s important that homeowners know what’s going on in their neighborhood and how these behaviors can affect their home’s value.
#4. Too many foreclosures.
If the entire street is littered with for sale signs, that’s naturally going to drag the value of your home down even further. Even though foreclosures and short sales are not as high on the Richter scale as they were 10 years ago, they can affect potential home sales near you. In order to combat this, you might wait until many of these foreclosures are off the market before you decide to sell if you can.
#5. Sex offenders.
If a sex offender moves into your neighborhood, there’s hardly much that you can do about it but if you’re in the process of buying a home, check with the national sex offender registry before purchasing because this factor can drive down your property values up to 12% according to a study by the American Economic Review.
#6. Advertisements.
If there are too many billboards and advertisements close to the house or within about 500 feet, it could drag your home’s value down up to 10% or even more in some cases. There are some communities that implement strict advertising laws and controls and these homes tend to be valued higher with higher median incomes, lower poverty rates and lower home vacancy rates.
#7. Bad schools.
It is against our code of ethics to refer buyers to one school district over another but homeowners and home buyers should do their due diligence by checking into the school districts and school zones for a particular neighborhood. Homes in areas where the school quality remains high, tend to have higher values in general.
#8. Bad renovations.
Now, this is something that you, as a homeowner, can actually change. Many renovations can add a lot to your home’s resell value but some may not. While a swimming pool sounds great, to some, they see it as a high maintenance addition.
#9. Neighborhood noise.
This is not necessarily neighbors that are noisy but noise pollution such as a home close to train tracks, a freeway or highway or even an airport. This constant noise from cars and planes can be very distracting and can actually lower your home’s value. Finding the right neighborhood is key in protecting the value of your home.
#10. Odd design or colors.
The color and design of your house is probably one of the first things buyers are going to look at. If it is painted like your favorite sports team, you have a giant American flag tattooed on the side or its bright pink, you’re probably going to distract buyers from the reality of how great your home could be. And because of this, it can actually lower the home’s value.
For more information on selling your Sunset Beach and beyond home fast, contact us today! We know home buyers and we know how to price. We can get your home sold quickly.