Housing slump could result in increase in DIY disasters
June 14, 2008
Over recent weeks predictions of a housing slump in the UK have been coming to fruition, with fewer properties coming onto the market, a fall in property values, and decreased consumers interest in purchasing property due to high house prices and rising interest rates. Some experts have expressed concern that this situation could lead to many homeowners deciding to stay put rather than move home, and instead carry out improvements on their existing properties.
Although many homeowners may decide to get professionals in to carry out some of the work and improvements others may opt for DIY, and for those with little experience or skill when it comes to DIY this could result in disaster. Experts state that consumers that decide to carry out home improvement themselves without the necessary skill or experience could end up reducing the value of their home and adding to their insurance costs should things go wrong.
One industry official said that some homeowners could end up knocking thousands of pounds off the value of their home through a botched DIY project. He stated: ‘DIY is a British obsession, but when it comes to selling a property a new floor or wallpaper is the last thing on a buyer’s mind. Plus you can do so much damage to the value of your home with poor DIY.’
Homeowners that are planning to carry out improvements to their home need to be careful about the type of improvements that they carry out, as some will not add any value to the property and some may even de-value the property.
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