According to Bankrate, the 10 things listed below that “DECREASE” the value to your home. Based on my recent purchase of a new construction single-family home, I have added my comments for each of these items.

1. A Pool

Personally, I’m not too fond of having a pool in my backyard, mainly because of the maintenance costs. I do like swimming, but fortunately our community has a pool. Also, when it comes time to sell your home, you have automatically limited your buyer market.

2. No garage or a small garage

Unless you’re living in a condo, a retirement community, or historical or in-town neighborhood most buyers will look for at least a two-car garage. If you don’t have a garage, it’s a real negative. Personally, for a young family of mine having a 2 car garage is a must. I like having the extra storage space too.

3. Garbled Floor Plan

Since we went for a new construction home, we had to choose one of the floor plans that builder was offering. Fortunately, there was also a model home of the floorplan we liked. Mentally, we have already made plans for each room in the house. We liked the Master Suite a lot. Small rooms and bathrooms, an inconvenient floor plan or a layout that requires you to access bedrooms or bathrooms through other rooms will detract value from your home.

4. Outmoded appliances or systems

When a buyer walks into a home, one of the biggest concerns that they have is that the appliances should be in a working condition and should look good too. If you try to open the oven and the door falls off, the buyer is out ta there. We actually chose our own appliances, so no problem there.

5. Stale or overly personal decor

Personally, I don’t like a red color wall. But many of us do like bright colors in our house. That well and good, but when its time to sell, its a good idea to paint your walls with a neutral color, that would surely appeal to more buyers.

6. A bad roof

I don’t understand much about how a house is built, but as a buyer, if my home inspector tells me that the house has a bad roof, that would be scary and I will run away from there and never look back.

7. Bad location

This is an important one. When we were looking for a home, our criteria was an area with good schools for my daughter, shopping close by and quiet and peaceful neighborhood. If our house was anywhere near an airport or an interstate, we would not have considered that location.

8. Poor maintenance

I would put this one under the category of “Curb Appeal”. If I’m looking for a home and when I drive to it, I see some old chipped paint on it, uneven grass on the ground and just overall shabby looking, I would just drive past it. I know these are cosmetic changes, but when I’m buying a home I want the whole package, not just updated appliances in the kitchen. It’s worth investing in the maintenance of your home to increase the resale value.

9. Environmental hazards

This where a home inspection comes in real handy. Your inspector should be able to tell you if you might have a problem with mold, lead or asbestos. Even though, these things can be fixed, I, and many other buyers would not like the sound of that.

10. A laundry list of needed improvements

As a buyer, if you are looking at a house and realize that there is some significant work/improvements that would need to be done before you actually start enjoying your home, that’s a big turn off. You have enough things to worry about like buying new furniture etc. and spending money on basic improvements that should have been done in the first place does not leave a good taste in my mouth.

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