7 Shocking Things that Can Devalue Your Home

Life Style

Your home is the largest investment most people make in their lives. The hope is that the home only increases in value over time, but there are a lot of additions that can devalue your home. These are often things that the homeowner themselves think will add value and make it more appealing to a buyer.

They later found out they were wrong and struggled to sell their home. In today’s economic climate, having trouble selling a home is the last thing you need as the housing market remains unstable.

You probably have no control over everything that impacts the value of your home. For example, if you moved into a great neighborhood that later went downhill, that’s not something you can control. It will be difficult to get a lot of additional value from that situation.

But for the obstacles that are well within your control, there are hidden problems that most homeowners don’t realize might actually come back to bite them in the end. Let’s look at seven of those factors:

1) Having a Swimming Pool

To you (and most people, we would think), having a pool brings back great memories. It’s a place of relaxation and fun parties. To others, it can be an inconvenient and costly issue that keeps them from buying your home.

Pools can be expensive to maintain, add additional cost to the home they aren’t ready to spend, and might even be considered a danger risk if they have really young children. This is a problem that might lead a lot of potential buyers from walking away.

Ways you can fix this problem, if you haven’t already installed a pool, is to go with an above-ground or non-permanent addition. If you’ve already taken the plunge or you bought the home with the pool already a fixture, you can do the work to ensure it’s safe by adding protective fences.

2) The Cool Carpet You Love Isn’t Cool to Everyone

No one can decorate a home like you can. You did your best Feng Shui that made your living space the most appealing and comfortable as you could with color schemes that fit your mood. The problem is, not everyone is going to dig those blue carpets or purple linoleum that covers the kitchen floor.

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This beautiful masterpiece in your eyes could be an eyesore disaster to others that cause them to walk away. The best thing you can for your home is to update all floor to something modern, like wood flooring or fresh, neutral-colored carpeting.

3) A Bad Floor Plan

If you’ve been telling yourself for years that knocking down that wall would be the perfect way to open up your home, maybe now is the time to do it. It would be especially helpful when trying to sell it.

Your house doesn’t have to be a mansion to make people walk in and feel like they have a lot of great space to do whatever their heart desires. It’s best to let potential buyers see multi-use from as much of that space as possible.

The reason is because the new owners might not have the same lifestyle you do. You might have a children’s room they want to use as a place for storage or require a home office. If you have a lot of single-use space, it will be harder for different people to want to buy it.

4) Turning Closet Space into Something Else

If you have a large closet that you’re thinking might be more valuable to use as a bathroom space or small office, don’t touch it. Let the new owners decide what to do with that space. One of the top things on the list of new owners might be to have plenty of closet and/or storage space.

You may decide that using a lot of dresser space is great for your clothes, but others might like to hang up their stuff in a closet, or have a large collection of shoes or suits. So, what you think will add value my actually decrease it.

5) Not Enough Natural Light

There are a lot of benefits to natural light. Not only does it help cut down on the electric and heating bills to have extra light, it can also help make a place appear more inviting and friendlier. The lack of this type of light can lead to a more stuffy and closed feeling.

If you feel there’s a lack of windows, consider adding a few. This is especially important if you have a great view you can utilize.

6) Having a Converted Garage

You might have the greatest man cave on the planet, but it does nothing for the next people looking to buy it. They may want an actual garage to store their cars in. This is especially true if you live in a northern climate. It’s beneficial to keep your vehicles in a covered space overnight or during storms.

If you converted your garage into a hang-out place, an additional living space, or you have a ton of stuff stored in there, it would be best to clean it all out and restore the garage back to its proper condition.

7) Wallpaper is Ugly

Again, you might love the look of your decorated bathroom space with boat wallpaper to keep up with the nautical theme you probably enjoy. But statistics show that the majority of homebuyers agree that wallpaper is generally ugly and unappealing.

Depending on how much of the stuff you’ve used, it could really devalue your home. It will signal to buyers they’d have to put a lot of extra work and money into fixing it on their own. If you do it on your own, you can recoup a lot of that value while having a clean appearance.

To finish, not everyone likes your styles, and that’s perfectly okay. You’re free to design your home however you want. But if you’re trying to sell it, the best advice is to try and scrub any personal touches out. Try to return it back to its neutral form. It could turn away a lot of buyers who feel they’d have to be a lot of work into it.

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5 Money Saving Tips for Buying a Car

Saving

Buying a car is a huge step for most people. Whether it’s your first adult car or you regularly seek out new leases every few years, it can be a frustrating (and quite expensive) experience. It’s especially troublesome if you go in not knowing how to find the best deal for you.

If you’re in the market for a new car or truck, this blog with share with you some money-saving tips that will keep you from making a huge mistake, while hopefully saving you a bundle.

1) Wait Until the End of the Month/Year

I know, I know. The thrill of buying a new vehicle is incredible! We want nothing more than to walk into a dealership today and walk out driving something with that new car smell. But if you wait until the end of the month, you can potentially get a bigger bang for your buck.

Most car companies pay their employees through commissions. The successful sellers often get perks and bonuses for selling the most cars. As the month goes on, a salesperson will get increasingly hungry to keep up with their quota, so they offer huge discounts, perks, and incentives to get you to walk away happy.

If you can be patient, end of the year deals can be really awesome as well.

Do your due diligence and visit several dealerships at the end of the month and compared which ones seem the most desperate to make a sale. You can also look for quarterly bonuses and special holiday events. The savings can total in the thousands.

2) Do Your Research Online

If you wait until you’re at the dealership to look around and do research, you run the risk of being strong armed or being swarmed with salespeople pushing you into a vehicle that’s not the best fit for you. Sometimes dealers have a vehicle they want to get rid of. They’ll try their hardest to convince you to buy something other than what you want.

Before you go to the dealer, you can do all the same research online. Look at the various models, sizes, colors, and prices you want to pay. There are a ton of resources online to help you, like Kelley Blue Book, Auto Trader, Carfax, and so much more.

A lot of dealerships even have a way for you to check out prices on their website and get a quote all without walking in the door. So, when you are ready to buy, you’re well-armed with tons of great research, ultimately saving you time and money later.

3) Shop Around for Trade-Ins

There’s no rule (written or unwritten) that says you absolutely have to trade in or sell your old vehicle at the same place you buy your new one. It may be more convenient to do it at the same dealership, but it can cost you money.

The trick is to take your car around to different places and write down the quotes you get. Once you’re at the dealership of your choice ready to buy, you have a nice tool in your pocket to start the negotiations.

The best way to go about it is to negotiate the price for the new car first, then mention you have a trade in and see what kind of deal you get. If it’s not as good as the deal another dealership offered, you have a great negotiation weapon. They’ll be eager to get your sale after already agreeing on a quote, so they might be more inclined to increase their offer.

4) The Best (and Worst) Time of Year to Buy

Spring is the worst time to buy a car. A lot of people get excited after getting tax returns and are ready to buy. Dealerships are prepared for that and prices will be inflated. They can afford to charge more as their buildings are often full during this time of year.

The best time to buy is in the fall. This is usually when the new model years come in, so they have a lot of the ‘older’ models taking up room on the lot. They’re more likely to give you a great deal to free a spot for the newer car, which can save you thousands for virtually the same vehicle.

5) Don’t Be Afraid to Negotiate Down Fees

You can bet your bottom dollar, when you receive your itemized bill, there will be a lot of additions to it you didn’t think you’d have to pay. Fees for this, taxes for that. Some dealers will charge you simply for doing paperwork. Yes, that’s a real fee that can hit as high as $800! Some states do cap the fee to keep it as low as possible.

In this case, if you get hit with a huge fee, try to negotiate them. Be willing to walk away, because it might take you threatening to leave if they don’t remove it. Some of the fees can get so ridiculous it’s not even worth entertaining doing business with them.

In the end, the best thing to do if you’re in the market for a new car is to wait. Experts say to start research at least 6 months ahead of time so you can be aware of all the great deals, sales, holidays, and times of the year when they’re a lot less expensive.

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