The Home 'Improvements' That Actually Devalue Your Property



The clue is in the name - it should improve your home in one way or another. In some cases, your interpretation of an improvement can be quite open. If something makes your life easier and improves the comfort of your home, does this count as a viable home improvement? Mostly, we judge these changes/upgrades based on the value they bring to the home. Good upgrades will increase a home’s value. At the same time, there are some improvements that are borderline pointless. Here are three that may seem like great ideas at the time, but they actually devalue your home: 

Swimming Pools
Swimming pools decrease the value of a home because they’re more inconvenient than they seem. Some people may not want a swimming pool in their home and would prefer a bigger garden. Plus, some people don’t want to deal with the constant maintenance. Adding one to your garden is a big financial mistake. Instead, there are loads of other ways to upgrade your garden and increase its value. Look for garden design and landscaping services to change the way your outdoor area looks, making it more attractive, spacious and practical. This will definitely boost your home’s value. 

Expanding A Bedroom
Bedroom expansions seem like excellent ideas as they create bigger and more spacious bedrooms. The problem is that these expansions often mean you lose out on something more valuable. If you have enough space to extend a bedroom, it begs the question; couldn’t you create an extra room in your house instead? This could be a small guest bedroom, a home office, a laundry room - or even an extra toilet. All of these improvements add value by giving your home an extra room. Expanding a bedroom could devalue your home as you lose out on this extra space. 

Open Plan Living Spaces
Knocking down walls to create an open-plan living area isn’t as good of an idea as you initially think. Again, it can be great at opening up more space and making a home look bigger. However, the cost of doing this is usually quite substantial. Some figures suggest it can cost over a thousand pounds just to remove one wall from a room. Then, you have the other issue; does it even add value to your home? You’re not adding extra rooms - you’re just opening the home up. Thanks to the pandemic, people have put more of an emphasis on privacy in the home. The need for walls is greater than ever, allowing people to work from home with some level of peace and quiet. So, open-plan living spaces are not as trendy as they once were, making them pretty poor home improvement options. 

All three of these ideas seem like they’d be really awesome upgrades to your home. By all means, you can still do them if you want. Nobody will tell you what you can and can’t do to your home. However, you need to understand that while these improvements might make your life better, they could devalue your property and make it harder to sell in the future.