4 home 'improvement' projects that can hurt your property value

Updated

Are you considering converting your home's garage into a man cave? Before you permanently ditch parking and storage space in exchange for a testosterone-friendly getaway, you may want to consider this: your garage man cave project could hurt your home's value and make it harder to sell.

Turning your garage into a living space is one of four home improvement projects highlighted by MarketWatch that could end up sucking the value out of your home.

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Homeowners need to think carefully before they get rid of their garage and turn it into a man cave, family room or extra bedroom, because it could make their home less attractive to many people, New York real estate agent Brendon DeSimone, author of the book "Next Generation Real Estate," told MarketWatch.

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A recent survey by real estate investment and operating firm Crescent Communities found that 74 percent of homebuyers said having a garage is extremely or very important. If you still want to proceed with your garage project, consider leaving the garage doors on the outside so if you do sell your house, a buyer has the option to easily turn the space back into a garage, Michele Silverman Bedell, of New York-based Silversons Realty, told Marketwatch.

Here are three other home renovation projects that could dent the value of your home:

  • Removing one bedroom to make another bedroom (or room) bigger: Reducing the number of bedrooms in your house is a big no-no from a real estate standpoint. "When you start eliminating bedroom space, you've completely changed the comparable value of your home in the neighborhood," David Pekel, president of Pekel Construction and Remodeling, in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, told MarketWatch. By reducing the number of bedrooms in your house, you've also reduced the number of potential homebuyers who would be interested in your home, despite how big another bedroom or living space is.

  • Removing closets: People want, and typically need, closets. Bedell said she had a client who removed the closet from their master bedroom and built a big master bath in the space. The result? The home was much harder to sell.

  • Wallpaper: Sure, wallpaper can really spruce up a room, but many people don't like it. Plus removing it can be difficult. I can attest to that. Every single room in my house had wallpaper circa 1979 – think orange and avocado green flowers, silver trees and flocked brown and gold geometric patterns. My husband and I made the mistake of thinking it would be easy to remove. Every room we worked on was awful and time-consuming, and I will never purchase another house with wallpaper. Bedell said overdoing wallpaper or any other finish can deter potential homebuyers and hurt your home's resale value.

Of course, you shouldn't shy away from a home renovation project you really want just because it may hurt your home's value if you sell it. It's just something to be aware of. If you do decide to move forward with a potentially home-devaluing home improvement project, DeSimone recommends that you "do it in a way that you can put it back when you go to sell."

On the other end of the spectrum, check out these "8 Home Improvement Projects That Pay Off Big."

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