Not everyone who takes steps to improve their home will live in that home for life. At some point, you may want to sell your home, even if you’re not considering it right now.
And that means it’s natural to want to recoup some of your fence installation investment by tacking at least a percentage of the value of that fence back onto the value of your home’s sale price.
Unfortunately, the answer is not as straightforward as you might think.
Take a look around your neighborhood.
If many of the homes in your neighborhood have fences then choosing to build a fence of your own is a good bet. You may even need to build a fence in order to bring your home value up to speed with the rest of the homes in the neighborhood.
If you’re looking at becoming literally the only home in your neighborhood with a fence then you could create a short-term valuation issue. But few people start making improvements on the eve of their move. It’s just as likely that you could spark a trend, meaning you wouldn’t be the lone fence owner for long.
The end result might well be that everyone’s property values tick up over time.
The type of fence matters, too.
If you are in a neighborhood full of people who have installed custom-built Northern White Cedar fences and you choose to install a cheap chain link fence, then you probably will decrease the value of your home rather than increasing the value of your home. And a DIY installation is going to create results that are iffy, at best.
Value doesn’t have to be your only consideration.
If you want the privacy and safety that a fence has to offer then you should get one, regardless of any home value considerations that you might be facing. A good real estate agent will be able to sell that fence to a buyer who may also have a child or dog that he or she would like to protect. The fence may be a selling point that helps you sell faster, even if it doesn’t add value “on paper.”
And of course, if you intend to remain in your home for the foreseeable future then the only real consideration is whether or not the fence is likely to enhance your life.
Ready to talk about installing your new fence? If you live in Whitefish Bay, Shorewood, or anywhere else in the Milwaukee metro area, call us. We’ll give you a free quote and help you decide which fence style will enhance both your life and your property.
