When you feel it’s time to put your home up for sale, it’s better to have less prep work to do on your home to get it running in ship shape and looking good for potential buyers. To avoid the trap of unknowingly ruining your home’s market viability, let’s look at 4 things you are doing that are decreasing your property value in Atlanta.
Putting off Repairs
Out of everything that can tank property value in Atlanta, delaying necessary repairs is a value killer as the years roll on and the list of repairs builds up.
The more necessary repairs to your home’s infrastructure—such as taking care of failing wiring, the HVAC system, and plumbing—are clearly the primary target. However, failing to make smaller cosmetic repairs can chip away at your property value over time as well.
Each year, it doesn’t hurt to take a thorough walkthrough of your property to spot any trouble areas that are beginning to rear their head, or possibly even worsening. Making a list of these repairs and prioritizing them will help you keep track of everything that needs to get done as well as budget appropriately in an attempt to knock them all off the list as soon as possible.
Ignoring the Exterior
With everything going on inside the four walls of your abode, it’s very easy to forget what’s going on in the outside areas of your property.
Letting your siding and gutters build up debris and mildew over time is a surefire way to kill your home’s curb appeal and decrease your property value. That’s why it’s important to use a pressure washer and a quality house wash to clear off any buildup along your siding and gutters while protecting them from the sun throughout the year. Cleaning out your gutters with a pressure washer is also possible if you take the time to carefully complete the task on an annual basis and don’t have too many trees around that will quickly clog them once with seeds, leaves, and sticks.
Beyond the features of the building’s exterior, landscaping plays a key role in curb appeal, and maintaining it can go a long way toward selling your home. Cleaning out overgrown planters, trimming back hedges, and laying down fresh mulch are cheap investments that can yield massive returns.
Over-Customizing
As you spend years living in your home, it will become more and more your own space. This can result in converting rooms for specific purposes, but take care not to make large-scale, permanent changes that are hard to undo.
For instance, turning a garage into a woodworking space or gym with lots of heavy, permanent fixtures to accommodate that one function is a spectacular way to limit that room’s potential uses . . . and reduce property value. Over the last few years, people were spending a lot more time at home and this resulted in some major changes to the function of different rooms. It’s important to make sure that those changes can be reversed quickly and easily for your home to hit the market.
Handling Things Yourself
Having previously recognized necessary essential and cosmetic repairs on your property, you will need to assess each of them and determine if you can handle them yourself without feeling like you’re cutting corners.
It’s all too common for owners to feel anything is possible with the knowledge of the internet and a little willpower, but hiring a professional with years of expertise can provide better results and may even save you money. Do-it-yourself projects have a limit for everyone, and acknowledging your limitations upfront is a good way to ensure you don’t get in over your head and cause further issues. If nothing else, consulting a professional on the upgrades or repairs can assist in minimizing mistakes and give you an estimated cost.
Help Setting the Right Property Value in Atlanta
If you’re looking to sell your home and need assistance determining your correct property value in Atlanta, contact our team today at (404) 977-5054!