5 Things You Feel Affect Home Prices But Actually Don’t

Home maintenance is a must for all home owners. Replacing worn-out plumbing components or perhaps staining some garden deck are jobs that certainly belong in the pre-requisite maintenance category. However, many people choose to make home improvements with the intention of adding to the home’s value.

Certainly, there are some projects that will do just that. The addition of a family room or other form of functional space may well make for a wise investment. But other projects however, will represent little opportunity to recover any costs when it comes to selling. Let’s consider four things that you may feel will add value to your home, but sadly, do in fact fall short.

1) Swimming Pool

A swimming pool is great when it’s located at your friend’s house, but it can quickly become a hassle if it’s actually yours. Plenty of potential homebuyers consider swimming pools as a danger, and also an unnecessary added expense. Those families with younger children in particular might well turn down what would otherwise be the perfect house simply due to the pool.

The cost to destroy it gleefully and fill up the hole with concrete might not be expensive when compared to the cost of buying the home itself. But that is not the factor that is wrecking havoc in the prospect’s mind. It is the thought of wastage that is the problem. Here is a beautiful pool complimenting a beautiful house. And having to destroy one of it’s aesthetic features upon purchase is just not worth it on many levels.

2) Overbuilding

In an attempt to add value, a homeowner might decide to make some improvements to their residence which, unintentionally, do not fit in with the rest of the neighborhood. Although something like the addition of a second story along with two bedrooms and a spa bathroom can duly make the home far more appealing, it will fail to add significantly to the resale value should the house be located within a neighborhood of small, single story homes.

Generally, homebuyers are averse to investing a lot more money on a home where the average price in the neighborhood is significantly less.  The house may appear beautiful, but unless other homes within the neighborhood follow suit with respect to overbuilding, the money invested may prove very difficult to recover.

If the zoning you obtained was what attracted buyers in the first place, they could have plans to demolish the whole thing and build it up to an even higher structure. With this in mind, it would mean that no matter how beautiful and modern styled your house is, the buyer will only be interested in tearing it down. This will immediately bring down the price in their minds.

3) High-ended Upgrades

Adding stainless steel appliances to your kitchen, or laying imported tiles to the entryway can add value, but not if the remainder of the house does not fit in well with the new additions. All upgrades must be consistent so as to maintain a similar style as well as quality throughout the home. Furthermore, a specific high-end feature such as a room with specialized audio and gaming equipment might be appealing to some prospective buyers, but for many, they would not consider paying extra simply based on this additional feature.

There is an art in designing homes with various rooms for very different purposes. If you did not hire an interior designer to help you or have a lack of knowledge in decorations, you could end up with a disaster which even the humanitarian organisations are unable to relief. If you think you have the artistic flair, that is usually not enough. You need to know you have it. The worst scenario is spending all that money and time to realise your creation, and having to spend more money to tear everything down again. That will be a real bummer.

4) Invisible Improvements

Costly projects that make your house better to live in, but no one else notices, or perhaps really cares about, are considered to be invisible improvements. It may be a necessity to add new plumbing throughout the home, but you shouldn’t expect it to recover the original cost when it comes to selling. The reason being is that most homebuyers will assume this type of system to be in good working order, and would not expect to have to pay extra. As such, it’s wise to view these types of improvements as necessary maintenance, rather than an investment in your home’s overall value.

5) Spacious bedrooms

Big spacious bedrooms are often very appealing sights in show flats. It is the epitome of luxurious living. So you go back and build your bedrooms bigger by tearing down walls and partially merging the rooms. You end up sacrificing a room or two as a compromise for bigger space. Although the visual impact can be pleasing and awesome, it does not add any value to a house in terms of resale value.

It has long been understood that the number or rooms can greatly affect how much a buyer will be willing to pay for a house. The more rooms there are, the higher the offers. So before you call up your contractor and give him the new measurements you want for the bedroom, keep this in mind as it can decrease resale value.

The Bottom Line

Unfortunately, there’s no simple equation to determine which projects will be able to garner the highest return on original investment. Some research or seeking the advice of a qualified real estate professional can certainly help a homeowner avoid costly projects that in actual fact tend to add little financial value to the home.

There are however, some activities that will increase value without doubt. These include increasing livable space, expanding build-up area, using good materials for floor tiles etc. Do your research if you have that objective of increasing value. But if you have no intention of reselling your home, just forget about everything and remodel your home to your liking. You have only yourself to impress.

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