Things That Will Ruin Your Home's Value....

I ran across an article a couple of weeks ago about things that will devalue your home.  I wanted to share some of them with you, especially since we all are about keeping home values high.

SINKHOLES
I thought this was hilarious...really, you NEED to tell me that a sinkhole will devalue my home??

How am I supposed to sell it if it is sitting in the bottom of a pit?!

CITY DUMPS AND POWER PLANTS
I'm sort of iffy on this one.  When we lived in Texas, we didn't live far from a cement plant.


The plant could be easily seen from our home...we called it Gotham City.  It didn't seem to hurt the sale of our home.

NOISY NEIGHBORS
Unfortunately, this is one of those things that you don't find out until after you've moved in...then, it becomes a problem.

REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS
A given!

BAD SCHOOLS
I don't know that it necessarily hurts the value of your home, but it may reduce the number of prospective buyers.

UNUSUAL COLORS
Adding a bit of color is a good thing.  But if you live in a neighborhood where most of the homes are muted or subdued colors, adding lots of color to the outside of your home may reduce your chances of selling.  Brightly colored homes are awesome in beach communities, but maybe not so much in the mountains.

Here is the link to the article.....give it a look and tell me what you think!


35 comments

  1. The school district usually does make a huge difference in prices of homes. People are willing to pay more to live in a good school district. We lived in a town in Oregon where even with comparable homes in different neighborhoods, the prices could be double or more in one over the other based on the schools alone.

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    1. We ran into that also when we were looking for a home....the housing prices were all over the place depending on what school system they were zoned in. It was crazy!!

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  2. Some good advice, but I agree that most are well known!

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    1. Truly! But then, every once in a while, you find that house that just blows you away and you don't care what the circumstances are. Fortunately, I've not had that problem....yet...LOL

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  3. Very useful info, Benita...the sinkhole is pretty funny though. Busy streets are a downer, too. We've lived in our house 30+ years and I doubt we will move any time soon but thanks for the article link.

    Jane

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    1. The sinkhole deal is hilarious...cuz that's going to be the prime property to buy...LOL Ahhhh, I have no idea what it's like to live somewhere 30 years.... :-)

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  4. We lived in FL when the big sinkhole opened up in Winter Park near my doctor's office. I saw on FB today that the house in Silence of the Lambs won't sell either. So we can add that to our list of property devaluations, can't we?

    I heard something on HGTV about graveyards near making it harder to sell. That wouldn't bother me at all, they'd be nice quiet neighbors, wouldn't they?

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    1. LOL…I like the way you think!!! When I was growing up, there was a cemetery AND train tracks right around the corner from us…didn’t bother me one single bit! We used to throw stuffed dummies off the bridge that by the cemetery every Halloween (only when cars were coming down the road so they would think someone fell or jumped)….we were evil children…LOL Then there was the year we egged the police cars….but that’s a different story…LOL ;-)

      Silence of the Lambs, Amityville Horror….wouldn’t catch me near one of those houses…LOL

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  5. Okay, I am in trouble with the color thing....lots of colors in and outside my house! Here's another thing to devalue your home and make your life miserable....a shared driveway. I will never do that again!

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    1. UGH...I don't think I could do the shared driveway! I don't think you are in trouble at all...Victorian-style houses are supposed to have lots of color...they are grand ladies!! :-)

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  6. Add the proximity to truck routes to the list. All the houses on our street have muted colors except each door is painted brightly - yellow, true blue, turquoise - mine is distressed red.

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    1. Oh, I bet that is absolutely beautiful!!! I love colorful doors….it makes me think happy things happen in those houses all the time! :-)

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  7. i read once that putting in an in ground pool would surprisingly make your house harder to sell. never knew why. perhaps the upkeep?
    i would think it would be wonderful!

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    1. We have an in-ground gunnite pool. We were told the same thing, by a local realtor. ???

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    2. Pools were listed in this article. We've had an in-ground pool at two different houses and never had any trouble selling our home at our asking price. I suppose it is probably just personal preference.

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  8. I think the neighbor issue is the most important. We bought our last home in a nice wooden area by a lake with one acre homesites and upscale homes being built. A family who had just received a substantial injury settlement bought the house close by. The money went fast apparently and they fell apart quickly, but it took a year of cops showing up weekly,the yard and house falling into disrepair and the HOA suing them before the house was foreclosed and they left. We were lucky we did not need to sell our house during that time.

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    1. Bless your heart…we’ve run into that before also…also in Texas. Just one neighbor wouldn’t keep their property up and the HOA stayed on them all the time. Homes are so expensive…I just don’t understand not wanting to keep your investment in good shape.

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  9. Sinkholes and sex offenders, oh my! Unfortunately, I think there ar sex offenders in almost every neighborhood, but sinkholes...not so much, haha!

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    1. You know, seriously, I was thinking the exact same thing! There are so many of them out there now, how can you possibly avoid them…the offenders, not the sinkholes….LOL Fortunately, no one has ever come up to my door and told me they were a registered sex offender! :-)

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  10. Benita,
    Well,duh! on several of these. Fortunately, I don't plan my house anytime soon. :) Hope all is continuing to go well with your family.

    Judith

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    1. ...don't pland TO SELL my house anytime soon.

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    2. Judith, that is what I thought when I read the article...LOL. Some of them are most definitely a given! We will sell in the next year or so and probably be heading back that way!! :-) Things are going well and I hope they are with you also! LOVE all those beautiful French blues you've been sharing!

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  11. Walmart Super Store in view! It's so scary when you buy a house and can't control what happens around you.

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    1. I know!! Empty land is NOT a good thing to have close by sometimes!

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  12. Help!!!

    I click on your link, but then get taken to other things, when trying to maneuver on it. -pout- Even when just clicking the "to-the-next >"



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    1. When you click on the link, it does bring up several other articles. In the lower right hand corner of the slide show under “11 things…”, there is a funky symbol. If you click on that, it will make the slideshow full screen and then you won’t see all the other trash on the page. It should let you stay directly on that article. Sometimes these things are just so ticky and aggravating!

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  13. Sinkholes????? Really????? May I just say....DUH!!! Wow, I can't believe they even included that!! :)

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    1. Me either...I thought that was just about the craziest thing I've heard...LOL

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  14. Re: Snow

    No snow here, "Honey-Bunny"... It's more along the coast states.

    -pout-

    :-)

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    1. I’m so sorry…I was really hoping you would get some snow from this new front moving in! We will keep hoping that we both get some snow in the near future!! :-)

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  15. The sinkhole one is hysterical! Ha!

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    1. I thought so too…it was truly a DUH thing! LOL

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  16. Benita yes all true and hopefully no poor homeowner is finding themselves with a sinkhole!
    xoxo,
    Vera

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  17. Most of those are a no brainer, but then I've owned 8 houses and have heard it all. One problem I learned the hard way is owning the biggest house in a neighborhood. The prospective buyers think they can get it for the same price as the smaller ones, because the realtor can't find any comps to get your price up.

    Geez... you brought back all the house selling nightmares I've had to deal with! I could write a series on it LOL

    xo

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  18. Wow, sink holes definitely will lose buyers. I have heard of those awful ones in Florida. I guess you have to really check out a house and the neighborhood first. I also hate the saying, no comps in the neighborhood...

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