Home unimprovements! - Cheap Mortgage Deals

08/11/2006 - DIY disasters can devalue your property

The fall in customer sales at DIY outlets may be bad news for the retailers but could ultimately be good news for home owners hoping to sell their properties without spending to much on the interior. The rise in DIY meant that home owners who had previously had very little or no experience of carrying out home improvements may have devalued their home rather than added value. New owners may be put off by shoddy workmanship and not share the owners taste in laminate flooring or the overlarge extension. At best many 'improvements' add no value at all.

The worst 'improvements' are said by the members of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), to include the conversion of a garage to a gym, re-installing chimneys and open fireplaces. To add the maximum five per cent rise in value to a property the addition of a conservatory, off road parking, central heating and a kitchen extension will help, the installation of double glazing and a refitted kitchen added around four per cent.