When it comes to selling your home, many homeowners tend to worry about presenting the property in the best possible light.
This includes tidying up, gardening, repairing obvious problems or applying a new coat of paint to certain rooms.
However, while homeowners have control over how their own home looks to potential buyers, they have no control over the appearance of neighboring properties.
Neighbors from hell: The condition of a neighboring property can reduce the value of your home by an average of £31,000, according to estate agents.
The condition of a neighboring home can reduce a home’s value by 11 percent, according to a new study from Churchill Home Insurance.
For an average property in Britain this could mean £31,000 being deducted from the price, while in London this averages out to almost £60,000.
The study, which surveyed 253 estate agents in the UK, also looked at the neighbours’ eye problems that have the most impact on the sale of someone’s home.
More than a fifth of estate agents believe that an overgrown garden will have the biggest impact on the value of a neighboring property.
Unsurprisingly, rubbish or clutter in the neighbour’s front garden or driveway is also likely to have an impact on the value of the neighboring property; 20 percent of real estate agents think this has a negative impact.
One in five say overflowing gutters have a negative impact, while a similar number say a large number of cars parked on or around the property can deter buyers.
Nearly one in five agents claim that garden ornaments and statues such as gnomes also negatively impact the value of neighboring properties.
Clear your clutter: Four in five real estate agents surveyed emphasize the importance of talking to neighbors about improving the appearance of their property before selling
Henry Pryor, a professional buyer’s agent, generally agrees that adjacent properties can affect the value of a person’s home.
“A clean house sells faster than a dirty house, and the same goes for a house with clean neighbors,” Pryor says.
‘A messy house can be worth 10 percent less than the same house if you spring clean it, and the same goes for unkempt neighbors.
“It gives the impression that people don’t care, and if they don’t care about their own property, it’s often assumed that they don’t care about you or yours if you live next door.
‘Awards for the best-maintained street or village add value to local properties because they shout ‘good neighbours’, and as the Australians say, ‘good neighbors become good friends’.
“It’s something most people will pay more for.”
Churchill’s data shows how much homeowners could potentially lose due to a messy neighbor in different regions, based on local home prices.
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What should sellers do if they have a messy neighbor?
Selling your home can be a stressful experience at the best of times.
If the condition of the neighbor’s house or garden can affect the marketability of your home, then it is worth looking for a solution.
After all, not only can they shave tens of thousands of dollars off the sales price, but they can also leave you in limbo for months if your home fails to win over buyers as a result.
‘There’s a street in North London where new people wanting to move in are actually vetted by the rest of the residents
Talking to your neighbor is a good start. Four in five estate agents surveyed by Churchill emphasized the importance of talking to neighbors about improving the appearance of their property before selling.
“People selling, and in some cases even renting out, a home would do well to talk to their neighbors before they start marketing,” adds Henry Pryor.
‘It will often be just as important to your neighbor who moves in next door, and he is more likely to help you if he feels involved in your plans.
‘There’s a street in North London where new people wanting to move in are actually vetted by the rest of the residents in an effort to ensure the local feel is retained.
“Of course this process can be abused, but there is a certain logic to it if you want to keep up appearances.”
Sarah Khan, head of home insurance at Churchill, also agrees that sellers should be prepared to approach a neighbor and suggests they even offer to pay for the clean-up themselves.
“First impressions count when it comes to selling homes, with the sale price often negatively affected if the adjacent property looks scruffy,” says Khan.
‘If you have a good relationship with your neighbor, it is worth approaching him or her to see if he or she would like to change the appearance of his property.
‘Investing a few hundred euros in a gardener to tidy up the neighbour’s front garden can pay huge dividends when it comes to selling your house, a win-win situation for both you and your neighbour.’
The research also found that some sellers deliberately time viewings to make homes look more favorable, avoiding the risk of exposing potential buyers to problems from a neighboring property, such as loud music playing, noise from pets or simply meeting the neighbors.
Matt Thompson, head of sales at Chestertons, says sellers should seek advice from local estate agents to get an idea of what might put off potential buyers.
“We carefully review each property before agreeing to represent it on behalf of a seller,” he says.
“If we see issues with a neighboring home that could impact the value of our client’s property, we discuss them with the seller and work to resolve them.”
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