When you’re looking for methods to make your home more valuable, there are a few options you can consider. Of course, decoration and renovation are both opportunities that may make your home more valuable. However, potentially the most effective option, especially if you’re having problems in this arena, is structural health management. When you’re trying to boost your home’s value, consider this home health checklist to make sure the basics are right first.
Foundation Problems
Because foundation problems are so serious, they can also contribute to some of the most serious impacts on home value. It can completely wipe out anything else you’ve added to the home. If you want to make sure you have the highest possible home value, you should probably look to your foundation first and foremost.
This is largely because serious foundation problems can drop huge percentages off your home’s value. You could lose up to 30% of your asking price. That means a $300,000 home can drop to nearly a $200,000 home just from foundation concerns alone. If you can catch these problems early, you can fix the problems and bring your home’s value right back up.
Basement Problems
Do you have a basement in your home? Although this can be a great selling point, especially if it’s partially or completely finished, it can also have its own drawbacks. That’s because a basement, by its very nature, is underground. That typically means the basement is prone to water problems because of the water in the soil around it.
If you’re not careful and you don’t put a lot of time, money, and energy into waterproofing your basement, you could end up with serious problems down there. With moisture issues and mold playing a huge role in allergies and asthma, it’s easy to see how this can have a significant negative impact on the asking price of your home. Plus, an unstable basement can quickly grow into unstable foundation concerns.
Crawl Space Problems
Homes without a basement will often still have a crawl space. Crawl spaces can be useful because they can allow people to get under the home and inspect the foundation, pipes, and other things that would otherwise require excavation. However, it’s not always entirely good. The creation of a crawl space creates a number of different potential problems.
Specifically, many people don’t understand how important it is to encapsulate their crawl spaces. This allows for mold, mildew, moisture, and even pests to build up tremendously in the crawl space. That can impact the health of the air in your home, which can in turn impact residents’ health. You may lose home value because of these problems.
General Home Concrete Problems
The last potential problem comes from the concrete in and around your home. You may have concrete in any of these areas:
- Patio
- Garage
- Driveway
- Basement
- Front Sidewalk
- Pool Deck
If you do have concrete in one or more of these areas, it’s important to maintain its health. Not only can broken concrete look ugly, leading to a lower home value because of its looks, but it can also be a genuine falling hazard. Plus, broken concrete often leads to foundation problems, which returns to the first problem.
Conclusion
As you can see, home health can have a really substantial impact on your home’s value. Better home health will directly contribute to a higher valuation whenever you do get a valuation for your home. If you want to sell your home for more at some point, you may want to look into your home’s structure. Talking to an expert should be your first step, because it could have a direct impact on how much you’re able to sell your home for eventually.
