What Brings Your Home Value Down?

This morning we're talking Home Value.  This is one subject that can be touched by both direct and indirect influences.  And there are certainly a lot of things that can affect your home value in the most negative of ways.  Here are reminders of what to be wary of as they'll bring your home value down, and the more these below come into alignment the more the value will sink.

If you or your neighbor has an unkempt yard, whether it be junk storage, too high of grass and weeds, or debris from storm damage.  This is one of the most obvious signs of lowering home value.

Certain commercial businesses (power plants, funeral homes, pawn shops) come with an inherent negative reputation either by way of sight, emotion or in case of power plant can be noise, pollution, or something massive looming over your property.

Certain government businesses (city hall, section 8 housing, landfills) as with some commercial businesses have high visibility as being part of aiding a negative push.

Depending on where you live and what laws are on the books, the availability of information about location sex offenders could be easy or hard to find.  This is another indirect negative value as some cities have put restrictions that sex offenders can only live in certain neighborhoods.

A large indirect negative has always been foreclosed homes.  These can easily be described as black holes sucking down the home value of the entire neighborhood.  The more it stays vacant and continues to lack maintenance, the stronger the negative pull will be.

The negative value of cars, trucks, and haulers on major highway can easily be seen by any potential buyer.

Empty or closed schools gives the vision of a neighborhood in decline, and an eye sore for the community.

Environmental hazards in the area either known or unknown can have a huge effect on home value.  Examples can be Chernobyl/Three Mile Island, train accidents which are transporting chemicals (as we've seen recently with chlorine spills), polluted groundwater, areas of regular forest fires, and flood zones among others.

We have seen this several times, and yet to figure out why this happens?  If there's a power pole on your property with lines cutting through the house.  This is definitely not the best situation.  If these lines fall onto the house or property there can be many unintended side effects from electrocution, house fires, as well as dangers to other properties nearby.

Having no garage attached to house can drop home value down almost immediately by over $20,000 just for a single car garage.

Bad landscaping is something that should be taken care of, and instead of a negative turn it into a positive.  Make it look nice and inviting.

Bad or roofs falling apart can be negative signs for not only the owner but neighbors as well.  A collapsed roof brings an immediate eyesore to the neighborhood, and if there's a storm before or after a collapse - debris could end up on neighbor's property or doing damage to those properties.

And lastly we have something that is another indirect negative.  A self inflicted wound.  Bad or incorrect home appraisals.  There are times when home appraisers make mistakes or just don't know how to do the job.  This can affect both your property as well as neighbors property's home values.  This negative continues as the appraisal is passed along to the local tax office in which you could end up paying an incorrect amount.  We've even known the local tax appraisals to be incorrect at times.

Keep your home value high, try to watch out for these or lessen the effects.

Huntsville Metro Area Homes