I just finished reading an article about improvements that do not impact home value – and could not agree more. Why? Because most of these “improvements” fall under the category of maintenance – painting the house, new roof, new gutters, replacing a furnace or A/C, etc.
When you own and love a home over many years, you can become blind to the nicks, scratches, and dings – to you they are just reminders of the lives lived in the home. But deferring maintenance seriously impacts the value of your home. Location is not everything.
Given industry estimates are that you should conservatively spend at least 1% of the value of your home on maintenance each year, you should assume that after 20 years of not replacing anything major in your home or painting or freshening up, it is worth at LEAST 20% less than the home of your neighbor who has been maintaining their home all along.