Recently in the media there was an article about a seller who had £20,000 wiped off the asking price of his home because the buyer’s surveyor had found Japanese Knotweed on council land opposite his home. If this can wipe off £20,000 off his asking price, imagine what is inside and outside your home that can also devalue it substantially. When you move home make sure that you are not left with a financial hole in your pocket because of the instances below:
1. Messy Child’s Bedrooms: Reports have suggested that a cluttered child’s bedroom can wipe £8,000 of your value of your property. It creates a bad impression on buyers according to a study carried out by the mortgage provider ING Direct.
2. Your Neighbours: When you move you may be glad to be finally getting rid of your anti-social neighbours. However you had better hope that the buyer of your property does not realise how bad they really are. A study by Halifax Home Insurance found that anti-social neighbours can wipe off £31,000 from your property value.
3. UPVC Windows: Replacing your windows can be an expensive job, especially if you are moving anyway. However many people regard UPVC windows as a real eye-sore and would mentally deduct between £4,000 and £10,000 from your home’s value as they would replace them if they were to buy your property.
4. Wind Farms: Although hard to prove, one couple in Devon found that the value of their property dropped from £400,000 to £300,000 after a wind farm was constructed nearby. A large number of homeowners are now successfully applying to the council to have their property placed in a lower council band because of the wind farms near their properties according to the Valuation Office Agency.
5. Noisy Pubs Nearby: If you live near a very noisy public house then you can guarantee that your property would be devalued if the buyers find out. Sometimes it can be as much as 20% if you are near a particularly noisy one, which equates to nearly £50,000 off the average property in the UK.
6. Pebbledash: Many people find pebbledash very unattractive to look at, so much so that a property in Wandsworth which was worth £1.3million had £90,000 wiped off its value because the outside walls were pebbledashed. That figure equates to 7% of the property price, on an average UK property the reduction is around £20,000.
7. Good and Bad Schools: If you are lucky enough to live in an area where the local school has had a fantastic report from Ofsted then your property value can go up 8%. However if you are unlucky enough to live in an area where the school received a bad report from Ofsted then you property value could be reduced by as much as 7%, or £20,000 on an average UK property.
8. Flood Risks: One of the worst offenders to your home’s value is if your property is on a flood plain. You can be assured that your buyer will have been made aware of this fact and will no doubt keep this in mind if they intend on making an offer. The Association of British Insurers have revealed that flood damage to an average property stands between £20,000 and £40,000 so that is how much is likely to be wiped off your property’s value.
9. Rail Network: Many people want their new property to have good transport links, however rail networks which are too close to your property can have an impact on your property’s value. Two houses on the same street in Chelsea went on the market with one selling for £5.5million whilst the other sold for £3.2million. The difference between the two was the proximity to the Tube, nobody wants a train rattling past their home and so buyers consider this when they look at properties near railway lines. On average £50,000 can be wiped of an average property price if a train rattles past your property on a regular basis.
10. Pylons: Not only are electricity pylons horrendous to look at, some people also find them to pose a health risk. Estate agents knock off around 30% off a property’s value that is near a pylon, which could amount to £72,000 off an average UK property.