Wear and tear on all properties is inevitable. As a homeowner, it’s essential that you maintain and care for your property, especially if you are planning to rent it out or sell it in the future. If a house is in worn-down condition, you could easily lose over 10 – 20% (this could run to tens of thousands or lakhs of rupees) of the property value during a resale.
Just like your other assets (cars, two-wheelers), you need to spend on regular and preventive maintenance for your home to avoid expensive repairs at a later date. Here, in this post, we give you the top reasons why spending on regular maintenance offers you immense value in the long run.
What is Home Maintenance?
Generally speaking, home maintenance involves all jobs that include maintaining your home. It’s about maintaining the structure, fittings, and other fixtures in your home so that your home stays safe, secure and aesthetically pleasing.
Types of Home Maintenance:
It can be classified into:
Regular – These are home maintenance jobs that you have to take care of at regular intervals say daily, weekly, or monthly.
Preventive – This is one of the most overlooked home maintenance types. This involves fixing problems before they occur, to avoid emergencies later on.
Corrective – This involves fixing problems once they occur. This is one of the most expensive types of home maintenance and can be avoided with regular and preventive maintenance.
Cosmetic – This involves doing tasks to improve the visual appeal of your home.
Seasonal – These are maintenance chores that occur once in a while, like spring cleaning, getting your home ready for monsoon and so on.
Here are the reasons why you should make home care and maintenance a top priority.
Avoid Last-Minute, Expensive Repairs while Selling or Renting Out your Property
When you invest time and money on regular maintenance at your property, it minimizes the chances of things going wrong unexpectedly. This is a huge relief for you if you are looking to sell or rent a property. Your house is in tip-top shape without any major structural problems, and you can sell/rent with just a few quick, cosmetic updates.
It’s Easier and Cheaper to Fix Things before they Go Wrong or Stop Working
Whether it’s a leaky tap, an energy-draining AC, or cracks in the wall – whatever the problem is, big or small – home repairs and renovations are expensive and time-consuming. Fixing a repair at home as soon as it occurs is cheaper than it fixing it at a later stage.
Save Money in the Long Run
With regular home maintenance, you spend a fixed amount on maintaining your property periodically – usually monthly. This helps you avoid extensive and expensive repairs while ensuring that your home is in the perfect condition. This saves you money in the long run, as you don’t have to deal with unexpected and emergency repairs and renovations.
Buyers/Renters prefer Ready-to-Move-in Homes
Buyers and renters often prefer ready-to-move-in homes that don’t require extensive work. They look for properties that have a quicker timeframe to settle in. According to data revealed by PropTiger, the number of ready-to-move properties sold grew from FY2017 to FY2018. On the contrary, the number of under-construction properties sold fell during the same period. These numbers were gathered from property sales across the country including Noida, the Yamuna Expressway, Mumbai, Thane, Bhiwadi, Sohna, Dahruhera and other popular metros.
As you can see, recent trends among Indian buyers reveals that they are more interested in old, well-maintained projects that newly launched under-constructed homes.
Enhance the Visual Appeal of your Property
With regular maintenance, you can significantly enhance the visual appeal of your property. For instance, by painting the interiors and exteriors of your home, once every 2 – 3 years gives your home a fresh and vibrant look, helping it stand out from other similar properties in the neighbourhood. Furthermore, with regular maintenance you can eliminate the visual flaws in your property, helping it fetch better values during the resale.
Improve the Safety of your Home
Another huge benefit of regular maintenance is that it improves the safety of your property. With regular maintenance, you ensure that there’s no huge structural damage to your home.
For example, one crucial task in home maintenance checklists includes replacing faulty or broken lights in and around the home. With the proper illumination, both inside and outside your home, you avoid accidental falls as well as succeed in keeping vandals out. This significantly reduces the chances of accidents in and around your home, which in turn, increases the market value of your property.
Enjoy Higher Home Occupancy Rates
Homes in a well-maintained community enjoy higher occupancy rates compared to properties that have been neglected over the years. Well-maintained communities see more residents participating in outdoor activities and socializing with other neighbours.
By investing in maintenance, you ensure that your property is part of a dynamic neighbourhood. This means you need not search high and low for buyers/renters when it’s time to put your home on the market.
Enjoy Peace of Mind
Your home is a precious asset. By investing in properties that come with regular maintenance, you know that all’s well with your property at all times.
Additionally, builders who take responsibility for home maintenance, post-sale are likely to use high-quality building materials in the initial place. This is because, from the builder’s perspective, using high-quality construction techniques and materials avoids bigger maintenance expenses down the line.
This is certainly a huge bonus for you, as you are assured of the best-quality building materials for your home, and you can breathe easy, knowing that you’ve got the builder interested in the maintenance of the property, in the long run. It’s one lesser thing to worry about.
Above all, Get the Selling Price you Ask
Very often, when negotiating property prices, buyers/renters are likely to point out flaws in the property as a way to reduce the selling price. With a well-maintained property, you give no chances to the buyer to bargain, helping you get the initial selling price you quoted.
Enhance the Value of your Property with Regular Maintenance
With regular maintenance, you can feel more secure and happy, that every single part of your home has been tackled right with the right care. Above all, you know that you are doing the right steps to enhance and improve the value of your property in the long run. Always prefer a builder with in-house maintenance this one small step will add piece of mind and worry free life.
Ashiana, Ashiana Housing build homes. Homes surrounded by vast green spaces and fresh breeze. Homes cocooned in secured gated complexes. Homes where futures are forged and there are opportunities to grow. And Homes in environments brimming with healthy activity, trust and respect. At heart, we build communities with care.
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