Although you might not think about it because you’re happy to just live in your home and enjoy it, the fact is that property is always an investment, and you’ll want it to be worth more when you’re done with it than it was when you bought it, and that’s true whether you want to pass it on to other family members, sell it, or just use the equity you’ve built up in it to make improvements, for example.
There are dozens of things you can do to your home to make it worth more, but there are also lots of mistakes you can make that can actually devalue the property. With that in mind, here are some of the biggest mistakes to avoid so you can get the most value out of your home.
Forgetting About Curb Appeal
One of the most common mistakes that people make when it comes to adding more value to their home is to only focus on the inside and completely forget about the outside. This is a big error because first impressions count, and if someone doesn’t like the outside of your home or thinks it’s been neglected, they’ll probably think the same out the inside - they might not even bother making an appointment to view your home. Plus, don’t forget that the outside of your home is also what an estate agent is going to see first, and they’ll make a snap decision about how much they can sell your home for (which will be lower if the exterior isn’t great).
You only really need to make a few simple improvements, like painting your front door, tidying up your lawn, mending any broken fences, and installing driveway pavers to make your drive look fresh and attractive. These things can really make a difference.
Making The Space Too Personal
You live in your home, so it’s going to be personal to you, and you’ll want to have personal touches all around, but when you’re selling your home or wanting it to be valued higher, you’ll need to make sure the space isn’t too personal - in other words, you might need to change a few things.
For example, if you’ve chosen to have a particularly bright colour on your walls or you’ve picked a highly patterned and unusual wallpaper, that could put some people off, and it will lower your home’s value if they think they need to do work to make things how they want them. By making things more neutral and less to your personal taste, you can improve your chances of a good offer.
Over-Improving
It might sound strange to say that improving your home can make it worth less, but the fact is that although some improvements are definitely going to be needed and worthwhile, doing too much can cause a problem, so you’ll need to know where to stop.
Every area is going to have a ceiling price, and there will come a point when it doesn’t matter how much work you do, you’ll never make your home worth more - but you’ll be spending more and more, so in effect, that means you’ll make less profit than if you’d just stopped sooner.
