Five Things in Your Home That Can Reduce Its Resale Value
When you buy a house, you become obsessed with its value . Of course, there are very good reasons for this; you just put a lot of cash into the place and likely took on long-term debt in the form of a mortgage—every dollar that the home’s value increases increases your equity. Increasing home value also means you can borrow more money against the property to pay other bills or make improvements , which will further increase its value.
Conversations about these improvements usually complement each other: we talk about adding bedrooms or bathrooms, adding closets or garages, or adding features and appliances. However, sometimes the best way to increase the value of your home is to clean something up . There are certain aspects of a home that are less popular than you think: people find them unattractive or view them as nothing more than a maintenance chore that isn’t worth the payoff in terms of enjoyment or convenience. If you are looking to increase the value of your home and have one or more of these items, you may want to consider removing them.
Certain types of trees
It’s true that trees add property value . Beautiful, well-maintained trees are an integral part of the landscaping plan, providing shade and simply looking very beautiful. People love trees, and seeing trees on your property can help sell your home.
Well, most of the time. Trees can have a measurable, estimated value , and that value can be negative . There are several scenarios where trees on your property will actually reduce the value of your home:
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Invasive or unattractive tree species – trees that are unattractive for borders or have bad-smelling fruit will be considered a removal cost.
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Property damage. If the tree is in poor condition or is too close to the house and poses a hazard to the house itself , potential buyers will not consider your home, lowering its value. Tree roots can also penetrate sewer pipes , water pipes, and home foundations , all of which require costly repairs.
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Appearance. Diseased, poorly maintained or dead trees reduce the value of a home. They lack the appeal of healthy, beautiful trees and involve a lot of potential damage and expensive work.
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Service. Too many trees can signal to potential buyers that they will spend a lot of time and money maintaining them. Tree trimming can cost up to $700 per tree , and buyers can mentally subtract that amount from the price of your home.
Poorly maintained pools
An inground pool is a no-brainer in terms of home value. If a buyer is specifically looking for a home with a pool, they may see added value in it and be willing to pay for it, but even under ideal conditions (comparable homes in your area have pools, you enjoy warm enough weather to make a pool useful, and you will need a lot size to accommodate a good sized pool) a pool at best only adds about 7% to the value of your home .
And that’s if it’s in good condition. A poorly maintained pool will look more like a big expense to potential buyers; Regular pool maintenance costs approximately $1,500 per year , and pool repairs can cost up to $1,500 if the pool leaks.
Pool removal isn’t cheap either. Filling it in (as opposed to completely tearing it down) will cost you anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 , so removing it should increase your home’s potential value at least enough to make it worthwhile. On the other hand, if the pool is in poor condition, potential buyers will see that they will have to pay a hefty bill in the future and will factor that into their offer price. Bottom line: If you have an old, dirty, leaking pool in your backyard, you’d better remove it if you want to increase the value of your home.
Formal dining rooms
A formal dining room used to be standard in most homes, but for many buyers it has become an outdated and undesirable feature . According to a survey by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), 85% of home buyers wanted an open kitchen/dining room instead of a formal dining room, and a study by Houzz found that nearly 75% of homeowners ate in their homes. kitchen instead of dining room. While luxury homes can still benefit from formal dining rooms, in most homes buyers are looking for more flexible spaces that can be whatever they want them to be.
If you’re renovating your home, it might be time to think about what the space should be like instead of a dated dining room that few buyers want: an office, extra bedroom or additional space could be more attractive and thus add value. If you’re not willing to go overboard, transforming a room through staging and design can have a similar effect.
Texture and wallpaper
People place a lot of importance on the aesthetic qualities of a home, and there are certain things that reduce the value of a home. Removing them may increase this value:
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Textured walls and wallpaper. It’s difficult to determine how much a custom texture on your walls or a home wallpapered from floor to ceiling affects the value of your home. This is a very personal aesthetic choice: if you’ve applied texture and chosen wallpaper, it’s obvious you like it. If you can find buyers who will love it as much as you do, you’re golden.
The fact is that homes with wallpaper and textured walls tend to receive lower offers . These choices make homes feel dated and potential buyers simply see the price to remove them, which can range from $650 to $950 for wallpaper and $500 to $1,000 per 500 square feet for texture. If you can remove them yourself, you will likely see an increase in the value of your home.
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Popcorn ceilings. Popcorn ceilings have long been maligned, but they have survived in the wild. Of course, there’s nothing objectively wrong with a popcorn ceiling (provided it doesn’t contain asbestos – if it was installed in the 1980s or earlier, you should probably have it checked before doing anything) in terms of everyday life. However, they tend to reduce the perceived value of your home because they are ugly as hell and look outdated.
Getting that value back can be difficult. Popcorn ceiling removal costs between $900 and $2,600 . The added value will range from $2,500 (for a smaller, more modest home) to $35,000 for a larger, more expensive home. Whether you’ll actually benefit from moving depends on what kind of home you have, how popular your local market is (in a seller’s market, people are more likely to overlook something like popcorn ceilings), and how much you’re paying for the work done. However, you can potentially add real value here, so it’s worth a look.
Carpeting
Some people love wall-to-wall carpeting. They love the feeling of warm carpet on their feet, and they love that the floors are never cold. Some people just feel comfortable here. For others, carpets are just fuzzy petri dishes of dirt, pet stains and germs, especially if they’re a few years old and showing stains and scuffs.
But not only will carpeting never recoup your investment in terms of increasing your home’s value, it will likely even lower the value of your home . People are willing to pay 54% more for a home with wood floors, but for many, carpet is seen as a cheap option that can hide imperfections in the floor underneath. If the floor underneath your carpet is in good condition, paying an average of $120 to $200 to remove the carpet can be very, very worth it.