As a home-seller, you want your property to sell for as much as possible. Many home-owners will take on a variety of home improvements to impress buyers and ensure a high selling price. Profitable home improvements can look like new paint, updating light fixtures, or a bathroom renovation. Although you might assume that all home updates will increase the value of your house, that’s not quite true. In fact, there are a few home improvements to avoid that will actually suck money from the value of your home when it gets appraised.
We don’t want you to invest in a costly project only to discover you won’t benefit from it in the end. We’ve compiled a list of 5 home improvements to avoid that will ultimately loose you money. By steering clear of these particular home improvements, you can ensure that your home keeps its value.
#1: Avoid Adding A Pool
Unless you’re selling a high-end luxury home with an extravagant place to swim, a pool likely won’t add any value to your home come selling time. It may even decrease your home at appraisal. Why is this? Pools are costly to upkeep. A pool needs to be heated, maintained, and will increase insurance costs. Unless money isn’t an issue for the home-buyer, a home with a pool may get over-looked for a home without one, just to save money in the long run.
We don’t recommend adding a pool to your home if you are considering selling. This is especially true in light of the weather we experience here in Canada. A pool is only used for one short season each year. While a pool is enjoyable during those few months, it’s short season ultimately makes it a non-essential home improvement to avoid.
#2 Avoid Changing The Amount Of Bedrooms In Your Home
The idea of having a big, beautiful master bedroom might sound like a dream for home owners. However, if you can only accomplish this project by knocking down a wall and merging two rooms into one larger one, this is a sure-fire way to lower the value of your home.
When it comes to the appraisal, having 3 bedrooms instead of 4 will automatically reduce the value. Not only that, but an extra bedroom is usually seen as a boon by potential home-buyers. Many people would prefer to have a room designated as an office or guest room rather than a large master bedroom.
#3 Avoid Removing A Bathroom
In the same way that you should avoid removing a bedroom, you should also steer clear from eliminating a bathroom. Removing a bathroom in order to increase the size of the kitchen, laundry room, or a bedroom is not a wise choice. Sure, the extra space in a kitchen, for instance, might be useful. However, the loss of even just a half-bathroom will negatively effect both the buyer’s perception as well as the appraisal value of your home.
Most potential home buyers will appreciate having a bathroom on each floor of the home. A nearby bathroom makes life much more convenient than a few extra square meters of available space in the kitchen. Not having to travel between floors to use the bathroom is definitely something that most home-buyers will be looking for.
As for the appraisal, you could increase up to 12.5% of a home’s value with an extra bathroom. Ultimately, removing a bathroom is a home improvement to avoid.
#4 Avoid Implementing A Unique Addition
There is no limit to what you can do with your home to make it uniquely your own. However, if you hope to sell your home someday, you’ll want to keep it as traditional as possible. Sure, turning the basement into a casino or the back deck into a tiki bar might be fun for you and your loved ones. Unfortunately, potential buyers will have a hard time imagining what their own belongings will look like once they are put into your unique space.
With that in mind, if you must make changes to your home for pleasure’s sake, make sure the installations are easily removable. That way you can take your oasis with you when you go. And the selling process will be much easier for you. Check out the following link to learn more about How To Prepare and Stage Your Home for Sale.
#5 Avoid Adding A Non-Traditional Exterior
As much as you may have a flare for colour, do your best to keep your house colours fitting in with the neighbourhood colour scheme. There’s a chance that one potential buyer might enjoy a bold colour palate, but it could diminish the interest of other potential buyers. Stick with the status-quo when it comes to the exterior of your Port Alberni home. Adding a non-traditional exterior is definitely a home improvement to avoid.
In the same way, adding a fountain, a pond, or any other unique feature to your yard ultimately won’t increase the value of your home. In fact, it might even discourage buyers from considering purchasing your property.
Conclusion
Before making any home improvements, please make sure to do your research. We want you to be well informed as to what will benefit your home’s value. We hope this list of 5 home improvements to avoid have been helpful to you as you look ahead to selling your home.
