Selling your home is not a simple mathematical equation -- a number of factors come into play when determining a fair price, many of which can be killing your home's value without you even realizing it.
Here we look at 8 surprising factors the can negatively impact your property's value, as listed by GOBankingRates:
1. Not keeping up with neighborhood trends: While your neighbors were upgrading their homes and adding additional features, you may have decided to keep things a little more low-key. However, skimping on those upgrades and not keeping up with the Joneses could hurt your home's value.
2. Wear and tear in your driveway: You may not pay much attention to the small cracks slowly forming in your driveway but an appraiser looking for signs of depreciation, certainly will. You may want to do a bit of work to reseal the surface before listing your house for sale.
3. A bad first impression: Potential buyers will form an opinion of your property simply by glancing at your home -- so it is important to maintain your house and make sure it makes a good first impression. If it needs a fresh coat of paint, break out the brushes and get painting. An untidy look drastically impacts the buyer's decisions.
4. An overgrown yard: If you have been skimping on the gardening and things are starting to look unruly, chances are it is impacting your home's value. When putting your house on the market, it is important to make a lasting impression and a neat garden plays a big role in this.
5. Having a pool: It is a popular misconception is that pools can add value to properties. It turns out that the opposite rings true in many parts of the country. Heather Kandawire, a real estate agent in Northern New Jersey, noted that most buyers were concerned about the maintenance of a pool along with the additional insurance and general added expense that comes along with it.
6. Bad neighbors: You cannot control who lives next door however, if your neighbor happens to be a registered sex offender, it can deter potential buyers. Solving this issue may not be possible unfortunately.
7. Traffic: Nobody likes traffic and especially if you have children that could run into the streets. If you are living on a busy street, it could kill your home's value. Houses in quieter spots tended to be valued more.
8. Ugly surroundings: Your home's value is largely determined by its surroundings and if there are unsightly structures nearby, such as cellphone towers and power plants, it could negatively impact that.
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