When trying to sell your home, you want to make sure you do everything you can to get the best price possible. Buyers are often picky, and it is up to the sellers to identify their needs and try to make the best possible impression in order to close the deal. You need to be aware of the factors that devalue your property and do everything in your power to change those that are under your control. However, some of those factors are not easily changed.
Here are top three factors that can affect the value of your property negatively:
1 Neighborhood
This is a major factor for any prospective buyer and can impact the price they are willing to offer for your home. Living near airports, train tracks and pubs equals noise pollution, while highways, plants and landfills mean pollution altogether, and affect home value extremely negatively.
Also, if your neighborhood is known for high amount of criminal activity, that won’t benefit your home value either. You should be honest with crime level in your neighborhood as this is something a prospective buyer can easily check online or at a local police station. If there is a Neighborhood Watch at force, be sure to mention that, as it might help prospective buyers feel more secure.
Finally, your neighbors have a huge impact on a prospective buyer. If your neighbors are hostile and argue with you over every little thing, chances are they will continue arguing with the next owner. If it seems that you have a dispute with your neighbors, many buyers will either pass or offer a lower price. Nobody wants that kind of trouble. Also, keep in mind that your neighbor’s criminal history, like being a registered sex offender, can impact the value of your property, and also prolong the time needed to sell it.
2 Yard and house exterior
The first thing a prospective buyer will notice is the condition of your yard and the exterior of your home. Everyone wants to live in a beautiful and well-maintained home. Strong curb appeal is essential when trying to sell your house. A poorly kept landscape will devalue your property or even turn a buyer off for many reasons, one of them being the cost of redoing landscaping and the time they will need to invest in that project. A rotting fence or an old shed will not help your house feel welcoming either. Even water elements, such as pools and ponds might have a negative effect, as buyers might be worried about costs of maintenance, and also security for their children near such elements.
The outside of your house needs to make a good first impression as well. Chipped or faded paint, dirty windows and busted sidewalks will certainly not go unnoticed by a prospective buyer. It will make them wonder if the exterior of your home and your yard is so neglected, what is also neglected on the interior, and give them an overall negative feeling about your home. You should invest in a fresh coat of paint, wash your windows, and make any necessary repairs. Make sure to pick neutral colors, like grey, white and shades of beige for the most of the exterior, while painting the front doors in a bright color to make them stand out.
3 Outdated kitchen and bathroom
There are two areas buyers will inspect carefully – kitchen and bathroom. Kitchen is the central part of every home and it needs to leave the right impression on the buyers. They need to absolutely fall in love with it and easily picture themselves cooking for their family there or hosting dinner parties. This is why people often consider it a good move to remodel and renovate their kitchens when trying to sell their house. You don’t need to do that much and spend too much money on some big renovation. A few simple things will do the trick, like a fresh coat of paint on the cabinets, new door pulls, fresh laminate on the countertops and sparkling new sink. All these renovations require a small budget, but make a huge difference for the buyer and the price they are willing to offer.
Just as they want updated kitchens, buyers want updated bathrooms, so consider making small changes to update it, like adding new fixtures, new lighting, new coat of paint, even new tiles, if possible. Your bathroom needs to welcome the buyers in, and be clean and well-decorated. You don’t need to go overboard with some big renovation. Sticking with these simple updates will serve you better.
Even though there are some things you can’t influence, like your neighborhood, there are always things you can do to minimize their effect. It’s not easy to sell a house these days, but don’t give up, there’s always someone looking for a house, and yours will find its buyer sooner or later.
