Josh Dotoli founded Dotoli Group in 2013, and the Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based real estate agency now consistently ranks in the top 1% of sales production nationwide. With over 100 transactions per year and $200 million in closed sales in 2022 alone, it is the #1 brokerage in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade.
Although Dotoli encourages its clients to add as much value as possible to properties he sells in the crucial year before listing, he saw many of them do things that had exactly the opposite effect.
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“While most homeowners want to increase the value of their homes, there are several actions that can have a detrimental effect, causing the value of your home to decrease in less than a year,” Dotoli said. “Here are some ways to destroy the value of your home.”
Neglecting maintenance
With physical structures, small problems always become big problems if given enough time, and one of the least productive ways to use 12 months is to spend it letting a problem get worse.
“Failing to address necessary repairs and maintenance issues can quickly decrease the value of your home,” Dotoli said. “This includes ignoring leaks, damaged roofs, plumbing or electrical problems. Neglecting maintenance can lead to more significant and costly problems over time.”
Overly Customizing Your Home
Sure, you love the avant-garde hot pink bathroom decor and the industrial graffiti mural above the living room couch—but you’re selling, not buying.
“Renovations or highly customized design choices like unique paint colors, unconventional layouts or overly niche features can limit your home’s appeal to potential buyers,” said Dotoli. “It’s essential to strike a balance between personal style and broad market appeal.”
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Ignoring Curb Appeal
The exterior image buyers see when they arrive at your home will shape their opinion of everything else in the home. After all, if you let your unkempt landscaping and your moldy, dirty landscaping deteriorate so terribly, what’s left to rot inside your home?
“Neglecting the exterior of your home can discourage potential buyers,” Dotoli said. “This includes failing to maintain your lawn, letting your landscaping become overgrown, or allowing your exterior to deteriorate. A bad first impression can deter buyers from entering your home.”
Do yourself beyond your abilities
Just because they make everything look easy on HGTV doesn’t mean you can do it in real life. Tackling projects yourself can be a great way to save money and enforce equity – unless the results are done amateurishly.
“While DIY projects can save you money, poorly executed renovations can decrease the value of your home,” Dotoli said. “Subpar workmanship or cost cutting can lead to problems that require expensive repairs in the future.”
Failure to make energy efficiency improvements
Almost every modern buyer puts energy-saving and environmentally friendly features that reduce utility bills at the top of their list of essentials. In this case, owners devalue their properties not by what they do in a year, but by what they don’t do.
“In today’s environmentally conscious market, homes that are not energy efficient may be less attractive to buyers,” said Dotoli. “Not updating your insulation, windows, or heating and cooling systems can hurt your home’s value.”
Adding disallowed structures
A good agent will quickly spot illegal additions, which should raise huge legal, financial and security red flags for the buyers they represent.
“Building additions or structures without the necessary permits can lead to legal and financial problems,” said Dotoli. “Unauthorized work can reduce the value of your home and make sales a challenge.”
Setting an unrealistic asking price
Finally, there is the self-defeating action that some buyers fall victim to at the end of the 12-month period, right at the time of listing – being overly optimistic about what they think their home is worth.
You never want to sell yourself short, but high pricing can extend your listing’s dreaded days on market (DOM) timeline.
“Setting an unrealistically high asking price for your home can deter potential buyers and cause your property to languish on the market, ultimately lowering its perceived value,” said Dotoli.
From neglecting basic maintenance to unrealistically priced prices, it takes no more than a year for homeowners to sabotage their property values – but they don’t have to.
“To maintain or increase the value of your home, it’s crucial to prioritize regular maintenance, consider potential buyers’ preferences, and make informed decisions about renovations and improvements,” said Dotoli. “Consulting a real estate agent or appraiser can provide valuable guidance on how to protect and increase the value of your home over time.”
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates. with: 7 Ways People Destroy the Value of Their Homes, According to a Realtor
