Once you begin the process of selling your home, you might be surprised to find out just how many factors can actually decrease your home's value. Some of them are obvious, like neglected maintenance or home improvement projects gone awry, but others may catch you off guard. To help you out, we've outlined eight different factors that can decrease your home's value.

Unappealing Curb Appeal

At first glance, this might seem like an obvious item. Of course, issues like a patchy lawn, piled-up trash, or peeling exterior paint can lower your home's value! But unappealing curb appeal can be much more complicated than that. There can be issues that you no longer notice, like overgrown bushes or trees that are too close to the house. Elaborate landscaping, like a koi pond, can scare off potential buyers who don't want the extra maintenance. Even the types of plants in your yard can factor in. For example, willow trees can bring down your property value due to the risk of roots invading the drainage and pipe work.

Noise Pollution

If your home is near a highway, an airport, or train tracks, the noise pollution can significantly drag down its resale value. Noisy commercial areas (for example, a club that blasts music into the wee hours of the morning) can also be an issue. On top of that, some noise-makers, like nearby heavy traffic, can be a safety concern as well.

Location, Location, Location

There are many factors that can add up to an undesirable location. One of the main ones is "zombie" houses in the neighborhood—homes that have been sitting unoccupied and are showing signs of neglect, like overgrown yards and broken fixtures. Not only are they unsightly, but they can pose health and safety risks as well. Your home's value can also take a hit from things like visible billboards, registered offenders living nearby, and proximity to certain businesses and facilities; for example, power plants, garbage dumps, cemeteries, clubs, shooting ranges, and homeless shelters.

Nightmare Neighbors

They say that good fences make good neighbors, and that might be doubly true if you're looking to sell your home. From neighbors that pull out the lawnmower at 7 a.m. on a Saturday to neighbors who throw wild parties, you could be looking at a tough sell. But perhaps more concerning than noisy neighbors are messy neighbors—overgrown yards and neglected home exteriors are much less likely to go unnoticed by potential buyers.

Too Much Personalization

Your house is your castle, and of course, you should be able to decorate it however you see fit. But when it comes time to sell, you might want to consider taking things down a notch. Aesthetic choices like wallpaper, bright paint colors, and unique fixtures can chase away homebuyers who don't want to put in the time and money to update to their personal taste. Even some home renovations can become an issue. For example, converting your garage into a private office might have been the right choice for you, but if the buyer wants a garage to park their car in, you could be looking at a negotiation to offset the cost of converting it back.

Bad Smells

Nobody wants to live in a stinky home, especially since bad smells can be a sign of potential danger—think rot, decay, and mold. Root out the source of funky smells as best you can and take steps to address the issue. (If you suspect you may have gone "nose-blind" to your home's scent, try inviting a friend over to sniff around.) Other smells (like a pet or strong food odors) can be addressed by cleaning thoroughly and making an effort to keep things tidy.

A Pool

If you installed a pool in your backyard, chances are you did so because you enjoy having it. However, that's not the case for everyone. Some buyers may not want the extra maintenance that comes with a pool, while others might consider them a safety risk (especially if they have young children). This can go double for above-ground pools, which some might consider unsightly. While you probably wouldn't see a return on the cost of filling in an in-ground pool, you can take steps to make it look as appealing as possible by keeping it clean and updating older fixtures.

What hurts your home's value can be specific to your property, or it can come from outside factors. While you can't always control those external factors, you can make an effort to boost your home's appeal enough to make up for them. And at the end of the day, remember that you can't control a homebuyer's personal taste, either. If you have a pool and a buyer is dead set on not wanting a pool, there's not a whole lot you can do about that. An experienced agent from Better Homes and Gardens The Masiello Group can help you figure out how to address or offset any issues that might decrease the value of your home, ensuring that it will sell at the best price possible.

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The Masiello Group is a second-generation family company that has been a trailblazer in New England real estate since 1966. With now more than 35 offices throughout northern New England, we're the largest residential real estate firm north of Boston to offer a complete suite of home services, including buying, selling, mortgage, title, insurance, relocation, and more.

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