Neglecting Maintenance
With physical structures, small problems always become big problems if given enough time, and one of the least productive ways to use 12 months is to spend it letting an issue fester.
Failing to address necessary repairs and maintenance issues can quickly erode your home’s value. This includes ignoring leaks, damaged roofing, plumbing problems, or electrical issues. Neglecting maintenance can lead to more significant and costly problems over time.
Over-Personalizing Your Home
Sure, you love your hot pink avant-garde bathroom decor and industrial graffiti mural above the couch in the living room — but you’re selling, not buying.
Highly personalized renovations or design choices, such as unique paint colors, unconventional layouts, or overly niche features, can limit the appeal of your home to potential buyers. It’s essential to strike a balance between personal style and broad market appeal.
DIY-ing Beyond Your Abilities
Just because they make it look easy on HGTV doesn’t mean you can pull it off in real life. Tackling projects on your own can be a great way to save money and force equity — unless the results are shoddily done with an amateurish appearance.
While DIY projects can save money, poorly executed renovations can decrease your home’s value. Subpar workmanship or cutting corners can lead to issues that require expensive repairs down the line.
Failing To Make Energy-Efficient Improvements
Nearly all modern buyers put energy-saving and environmentally friendly features that reduce utility bills high on their list of must-haves. In this case, homeowners devalue their properties not by what they do in a year, but by what they don’t do.
In today’s environmentally conscious market, homes that are not energy-efficient can be less attractive to buyers. Failing to upgrade insulation, windows, or heating and cooling systems can hurt your home’s value.
Adding Unpermitted Structures
A good agent will quickly spot illegal additions, which should wave huge legal, financial and safety red flags to the buyers they represent.
Constructing additions or structures without the necessary permits can lead to legal and financial troubles. Unpermitted work can reduce your home’s value and make selling challenging. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/7-ways-people-destroy-the-value-of-their-homes-amazon-to-a-real-estate-agent/ar-AA1ieYjd?ocid=BingNewsSerp#
Setting an Unrealistic Asking Price
Finally, there’s the self-defeating action that some buyers fall victim to at the very end of the 12-month period right at the moment of listing — being overly optimistic about what they think their home is worth.
You never want to sell yourself short, but high-balling can extend your listing’s dreaded days-on-market (DOM) timeline.
Setting an unrealistically high asking price for your home can deter potential buyers and lead to your property languishing on the market, ultimately decreasing its perceived value.
From neglecting basic upkeep to unrealistic pricing, it doesn’t take more than a year for homeowners to sabotage their properties’ values — but they don’t have to.
To maintain or increase your home’s value, it’s crucial to prioritize regular maintenance, consider the preferences of potential buyers, and make informed decisions about renovations and improvements. Consulting with a real estate agent or appraiser can provide valuable guidance on how to protect and enhance your home’s value over time.
