Home Improvements That Decrease Your Home's Value

Some home improvements are worth more than others. If you're a homeowner who is thinking about making home improvements in the coming months, choosing your home improvements wisely is important. These four home improvements have low ROI, and may even decrease your home's value.

Turning a Bedroom Into Something Else

Bedrooms add value to homes, so a bedroom conversion that turns a bedroom into an office space, library or recording studio can decrease the value of that home. Homeowners who want to convert their spare bedroom into another room altogether must do so carefully. No matter what the changes, it's important to ensure that someone else could use the space as a bedroom. Homeowners should be wary of making changes like building in office furniture, or installing visible sound proofing. These changes may need to be removed before selling the home, or the property value will suffer.

Built-In Aquarium

Built-in aquariums may look beautiful, but they're not for everybody. In fact, large aquariums represent a big time commitment for homeowners. Since the chances of finding a home buyer who wants a built-in aquarium is rather low, many homeowners with built-in aqariums may find that they must lower their home's sale price to find buyers when the time comes to sell. Homeowners who want a large aquarium in their home will have the best success if they install an aquarium they can remove later.

High-Maintenance Landscaping

High-maintenance landscaping can deter buyers, for much the same reason that a built-in aquarium can deter buyers. Not all buyers want to dedicate their time to taking care of their landscaping. In addition, different buyers have different landscaping tastes. Buyers who want to ensure that their home will be attractive when the time comes to sell can do so by installing low-maintenance landscaping and easy to remove landscaping.

Luxury Bathroom or Kitchen

Luxury bathrooms and kitchens rarely reduce a home's value. However, luxury bathrooms and kitchens are expensive to install, and homeowners rarely recoup the high cost of installation. Homeowners who are thinking about remodeling their kitchen or bathroom can recover the most costs by keeping their remodel moderately priced.

Work With a Real Estate Professional

If you're a McKenzie Towne home or condo owner who is thinking about making home improvements to improve your home's value, contact a real estate professional. Working with a real estate professional can help ensure that your home will sell for a good price when the time comes to list the property for sale.