When selling your house, you obviously want to get the best price possible. However, new research shows there are some surprising features that may be devaluing your home.
Related: The pointless home improvements that WON'T add value – so should you even bother?
Hammonds Furniture has discovered elements of a home that could knock a whopping 20 per cent - or an average of £49,471 - of a property’s value.
‘We all have something in mind when we begin a search for our next home, but there are certain features that for many people could be an absolute dealbreaker,’ says Kirsty Oakes, Head of Product and Marketing at Hammonds Furniture. ‘However, some of these features are surprisingly quick and simple to amend if you are looking to sell your house.’
So read on to discover some of the most surprising features which could be losing you money when selling your home.
Surprising features that devalue a house
1. Ugly wallpaper
According to the research, a quarter of people would be put off from buying a home, or reduce the size of their offer, if it had what they thought of as ‘ugly’ wallpaper. Since you could of course easily strip the wallpaper yourself and would, no doubt, redecorate to your taste when living there, this one was a bit of a shock! So if you’re selling your home, consider removing any divisive wallpaper, and decorating rooms with neutral colours instead.
2. Pebbledash
It’s official - pebble dash just ain’t flash. One in four people would offer less to buy or even reconsider buying a home if it had this exterior wall covering.
Pebbledash, which was at the height of its popularity in the 1920s can be a useful addition to a home as it protects the building from bad weather and is extremely hard-wearing, but at least a quarter of people just don’t like the look. Getting rid of this is pretty tricky, but it can be rendered over.
If selling, repainting the pebbledash can disguise its appearance, making it more attractive to more buyers - just stick to spray paint, as for obvious reasons, rollers and brushes can’t easily complete the job.
3. Being very close to a pub
For a nation of pub lovers - there’s nearly 50,000 in the UK after all - it may be surprising that 3 in 10 people wouldn’t want to buy a house especially close to one. This is most likely due to the potential for noise and general disruption of the peace and quiet.
Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do to change this aside from hoping you get some more sociable next viewers, otherwise, you may have to take the hit and get less than was expected for the sale of your home.
4. A bathroom with no bath
Self-care is the phrase of the moment, so perhaps that’s why 34% of people would be reluctant to pay full price for a home without a bath. Considering that nearly a third of people would feel the same if there was a weak shower - bathing is clearly an important consideration to buyers!
5. Having mould or damp
Unsurprisingly, the feature which is most likely to knock money of your home’s value is mould and damp, with 62% of people saying they would put in a reduced offer, if any. ‘Mild cases of mould may not affect value too dramatically if all is needed is a dehumidifier and some mould-resistant paint, but very severe cases can reduce a property’s value up to 20%,’ says Michael Patterson, Managing Director of WeBuyAnyHouse.
Related:Experts reveal not doing this in kitchens can devalue a property by £20,000
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