If you are thinking that you'd like your home to act like an asset, it's important to treat it like one. This means maintaining it and making sure that your major "systems" are in good working order. You'll have to invest money into it, to get money out of it.
Do you know one of the first things that new buyers worry about? They worry about the roof.
My wife and I toured a home that we were seriously interested in just over three months ago, and then noticed that the shingles were in bad condition and pulling up. Although that home is still listed in our local newspaper, and the price has dropped by over $15,000 we won't likely be looking at this home again. Our biggest wonder: why didn't the current owners fix the roof? Is it compromised over the addition (where the problem is evident)? Perhaps the owners haven't tackled it because the water barrier of the roof is in trouble? Perhaps the addition isn't done as well as it should be?
And we can't be alone in that thinking because the home is not sold.
The house does have other challenges (like badly done renovations and very stale decorating). In fact, that's another reason that we aren't going back for another look. It's a shame really: the home is in a prime neighborhood and should be selling for as much as $60,000 more than its current price. So, it should be a deal. But poor quality work on the home indicates to us that the owners may have taken short-cuts that aren't evident now, and we could be buying a lemon.
What a difference some good quality maintenance would have made!
Michael
