When you are getting your home ready to be sold, it is important to do whatever you can to increase its value. There is a lot of advice out there that will help you get what you are asking for the house and sometimes you can even go beyond that price when you get things right. However, a lot of homeowners are doing things that will decrease the value of their home.
Even if you aren’t planning to sell right away, you should make sure that you are not actively wrecking the value of your home. You want to build equity as a way to protect your investment, after all. In this article, we will go over several common mistakes that homeowners make that decreases the value of their home.
1 – Not doing a pre-inspection
Before you put your home on the market, it is important to understand what you are working with so you can make a plan of action. Doing a pre-inspection will help you determine what problems the house has so there are no surprises when you have a home inspection done.
You’ll have to pay for a home pre-inspection, but it can be well worth it. If the inspection passes with flying colors then this will look good for a potential buyer. They will know the house is in good order and that they won’t have to pay for an inspection. In fact, houses are selling so fast right now that many sellers are requesting that buyers waive the inspection completely when making an offer.
2 – Not making upgrades
If your pre-inspection comes back clean, that doesn’t mean that you don’t have to do anything to the house. You may not have any major repairs to make but you will need to make some upgrades to increase the value. An old house with old fixtures and appliances will have a lower value than an identical house that has new things in it.
Look to do some renovations to update things like the kitchen and bathroom for instance. Old kitchens and bathrooms drag down the value of a house. Adding new appliances to the kitchen will increase the value quite a bit since it means the new owner won’t need to buy any and they will likely save money since the latest generation is more efficient.
Changing the fixtures in the bathroom with new ones will also add value so look to add a rain shower head, new faucets, and possibly even a bidet.
3 – Not taking care of curb appeal
When you are neglecting to take care of the outside appearance of the home then you are seriously decreasing its value. If people can see things wrong then they might wonder about the state of the things they can’t see.
Curb appeal is crucial when it comes to real estate because it can significantly impact how a property is perceived by potential buyers and the community. A property with great curb appeal is more desirable and can also increase the property’s value. Taking the time to enhance your property’s curb appeal can lead to a greater return on investment.
