Tips To Prevent Your Property Value Depreciating

If you’re a homeowner, first - congratulations! This is a big step in your life. Secondly, with that home ownership comes a responsibility to your financial future. A home isn’t just a place to live; in many ways, it’s an investment for your future.

Like all good investments, you want to make sure that it retains its value. With home ownership, that equates to making sure your piece of property avoids depreciation - simply defined as the reduction in value of an asset. So how can you protect your home from depreciation? We here at Yes! Homebuyers have put together a list of tips that will help you keep your investment safe.

Tip #1: Make Sure All of Your Property’s Repairs are Up-to-Date - All of those little things around the house - maybe a drafty window, or a faulty boiler, or a crack in the front step - those little things can add up and make up bigger problems. Remember, if someone is going to come through and tour your house with the intent or interest in purchasing the property, all of those little things - every mild annoyance to your ears - will add up in their head. So, make sure you’re on top of every little thing in the household that can be fixed.

Tip #2: Go Energy-Efficient - Utilities are part of the price to every household, and a house that can call itself “energy-efficient” is a place that will always be ahead of the curve. Be sure to install energy-friendly appliances, use low-flow sinks and shower heads, insulate the heat sources and pipes within the house, and investigate advanced windows that help even out temperatures. Having this little descriptor in your pocket for your house is a very valuable tool.

Tip #3: Work on the cosmetics of your house - It’s always a good idea to make sure your house looks as beautiful as possible. After all, you want to be sure to leave a good first impression on every viewer. So work on the outside of it! Make sure that all the painting is up to date, the driveway is repaired, the roof and gutters are fixed and working and the lawns, gardens, trees and bushes are nicely maintained. It’s those superficial fixes that will help give your house the most value possible.

Tip #4: Make Sure All The Fundamentals of the House Are Strong - We’re doing some political paraphrasing here, but it’s good advice for the home. Think of the building blocks of a good living experience in the home, and make sure those basic necessities are kept up. Schedule regular check-ups for the plumbing and the electric in the household, and make sure that any problems with these two elements are fixed quickly.

Additionally, make sure that you don’t have a lot of clutter hanging around the household. The goal is to be the exact opposite of everything profiled on “Hoarders.” Not only is it unseemly and unattractive to potential buyers, it has the ability to attract pests and rodents to the household. No one wants that!

Try to follow these guidelines and there’s a good chance your home will retain a great deal of its value!