With today’s homeowners only expecting to stay put for about five to seven years, many must rethink major upgrades or renovations that may hurt them when it comes time to sell.
Zillow highlights five of the worst upgrades you can make if you’re hoping to resell soon. Most of them sound like great home improvement projects; many are. But they might not appeal to everyone, so exercise restraint if you’re not in it for the long haul.
- Overblown Gardens. Elaborate landscaping and gardening may sound like your backyard paradise, but it’s also some people’s worst nightmare. If you’re looking to sell, your buyers will most likely be interested in neat, but low-maintenance, lawns, not the hanging gardens of Babylon.
- Garage Turned Family Room. You may crave the extra space that your garage-to-family-room conversion yields, but many buyers are unwilling to make that trade. Garages offer not only car parking, but storage for your outdoor items and other things you can’t find room for. Getting rid of it could cost you.
- Removing a Bedroom. Jettisoning a smaller bedroom to enlarge a master suite or home office could cost you in the long run. Extra bedrooms add tremendous value to a home, and a two-bedroom home with a cavernous master suite and walk-in closet just won’t have the same selling power as a standard three-bedroom house.
- Taking a Dip. You may end up taking a bath by adding a backyard pool. While they may be fun, pools could actually hurt your home’s resale value. They boost homeowners’ insurance rates, carry loads of maintenance, and can be a major turn-off for families with small children.
- Making it Too Personal. Adding too many personal touches–whether it’s a custom pink tile you absolutely love or shag carpeting you think is stylish–could turn buyers away who see the house as a fixer-upper instead of the pinnacle of design. When it comes time to sell, nothing beats mass appeal–even if you don’t like it.