Yahoo Finance Real Estate Agents: These 7 Vintage Features Are Hurting Your Home’s Value
While you may consider a particular feature “charming” on your old-fashioned home, the reality is that this could hurt the property’s value.
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If you’re considering selling your home in the near future, the goal should be to maximize the value so that you can earn more from the sale proceeds. You don’t want to lose out on potential profits because you had features bringing down what you could earn from the place.
To help your home avoid losing value, check out these outdated, vintage features that could be hurting your selling price.
Outdated Home Layouts
“Many older homes have choppy, closed-off floor plans that are out of sync with today’s preference for open spaces,” said Aja McClanahan, a financial writer and real estate agent from Space Coast Move HQ. “Consider opening the floor plan by removing walls or even raising the ceilings.”
While you may be comfortable with the layout of your home, prospective buyers may not be impressed. You might also want to look into removing popcorn ceilings and other changes that make your property feel outdated.
Not Enough Bathrooms
“For large families or shared living situations, a home with only one bathroom can be challenging,” McClanahan stressed. “The solution is to add another bathroom. This could mean sacrificing space in another area of the home or expanding the overall footprint of the house.”
With many properties turning into short-term rentals or shared housing, you’re going to want to increase the bathroom space so that you have the potential to attract more prospective buyers.
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Obsolete Systems
“Older electrical or plumbing systems can not only be less efficient but also potentially dangerous,” McClanahan noted. “Updating these systems to current standards can be costly but may be necessary for safety and sustainability. In some cases, it may even affect the insurability of your home, which is a big red flag for some buyers.”
Your obsolete systems could limit the interest that you receive from buyers since they may not want to deal with the hassle of replacing an entire HVAC unit. While your system may do a good enough job right now, it could be a red flag to buyers.
This leads us to a similar point…
Radiators
Cody Rudolph, a real estate investor and blogger, said, “Everyone has the same painful childhood memory of burning themselves on a radiator when visiting a grandparents’ house. They’re heavy, a fire hazard and largely obsolete thanks to central heat and air.
“Buyers don’t want their kids or pets around them,” he continued. “Do yourself a favor, spend the money on proper HVAC and toss out the radiators.”
After reading this, you may want to seriously consider getting rid of that radiator. While it may seem harmless or almost traditional, it’s likely hurting your property value. There’s a reason that you don’t see these too often.
Carpet
According to Dan (@ResilientRei on X) from the podcast, Landlord Horror Stories, carpet could be considered vintage.
He said, “The days when people demand wall-to-wall carpet in every room are over. With the exception of bedrooms, floors with installed carpet are considered vintage.”
Your carpet may have brought the room together in the 90s, but that vintage feature is now possibly repelling potential buyers while bringing down the value.
You’ll want to think about getting rid of the carpet and going with a more modern look for your flooring. In some cases, this is the first thing home buyers see when they step into your place.
Old Windows
Real estate investor and blogger, Tom Brickman, said, “Ditch the old windows (unless they are stained glass) if you’re not in a historic district where they’re required.”
When someone pulls into your driveway, they will notice the windows instantly. You don’t want to lose out on potential bids on your property because of old windows.
Dark Lighting
Heat lamps in the bathroom and lighting that simply makes the room dark are two other vintage features that Brickman says need to go. “It’s amazing what some new bulbs can do to a space,” he added.
Your home’s value could be hurt by something as simple as dim lighting. Instead, spend an afternoon reviewing your lighting to ensure that it’s bright and modern so that your property doesn’t lose value.
How To Know Which Features Hurt Your Home’s Value
“Depending on the buyer, cosmetic things like that avocado green foyer or pink-tiled bathroom can be easily fixed,” McClanahan commented. “However, functional obsolescence might be harder to overcome for retail buyers looking for a move-in-ready home.”
While there’s no easy way to determine if particular features impact the value since housing prices can also fluctuate based on market conditions, you will want to work with a trusted real estate agent who knows the market.
What does McClanahan consider to be functional obsolescence? He said, “Functional obsolescence can be anything from an outdated floor plan to a clunky wood-burning stove in the living room.”
You’re going to want to audit your home’s features before you list it so that you don’t lose out on profits. You can also analyze comparable listings in your neighborhood to see what distinct features they’re offering that you’re not. From there, you can run the calculations to see how much money your home upgrades would cost and what kind of return they could provide.
Closing Thoughts
“The marketplace value of your home is largely dependent on its desirable features,” continued McClanahan. “But ‘real estate’ math means that outdated features like vintage interior designs or functional obsolescence could drop the value of your property.”
If you notice that your home has any of these vintage features, the good news is that you can make the necessary changes to increase its value. What you may have thought of as being charming is actually a hindrance to selling your home.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Real Estate Agents: These 7 Vintage Features Are Hurting Your Home’s Value
