How Do Garage Doors Affect Home Value?

When people think about things that can impact the curb value as well as market value of their home they typically think of things like landscaping, a new paint job and perhaps new windows. What often gets left out of the discussion is the garage door. But it shouldn’t be. In most cases the garage door is the single biggest element of the home’s exterior. Depending on how the home is oriented to the street it may make up ¼ to ⅓ of what people see when they look at the house. In this post we’ll examine that and other reasons why the garage door is so important to your home’s overall value. Then we will discuss how to fix those issues so you will get the best price for your home.

The Market Impact of Garage Doors

Real estate agents everywhere will tell you that the garage door plays a significant role in determining the market value of your home. In fact, 2022 data from the National Association of Realtors projected new garage doors to yield a 100% return on investment. This may not seem like a very fair thing, after all your home may have a dozen other features you feel make it worthy of enhanced value and these should not be overlooked because of a less than perfect garage door. But there are a lot of good reasons why the garage door exerts such an influence on home values and below we’ll look at five.

1. Appearance: As we stated at the beginning of this piece the garage door is an enormous visual component typically presenting viewers with up to ⅓ of what they see of your house from the street. As such if your garage door is in shabby condition it’s like a black eye on the homes exterior: no one will see anything else. Likewise if the door is simply a bad match stylistically (something that happens all too often) then there will be a similar visual disconnect; and visual disconnects are never good for home values.
2. Energy Efficiency: Chances are if your garage door is more than 10 years old it’s allowing plenty of precious heat to escape into the atmosphere. You may not feel it directly but it’s there on your monthly energy bill. Replace your leaky old garage door with a new, insulated, energy efficient door and you’ll notice the difference right away. Having a home that wastes energy today is a major drag on valuations so the more energy efficient and better insulated your garage door the more valuable your home.
3. Noise Reduction: An old garage door can be a real squeak factory that’s for sure. Rattling, scraping, rocking and rolling its way up and down the track it can sound like there’s a war going on in your garage every time the door opens, particularly to anyone who has the misfortune of having a room above the garage. Rocking and rolling might draw people into the local roadhouse but it’s going to depress the value of your home until the door is fixed or replaced.
4. Security: An old garage door that doesn’t close tightly and has cracked wooden panels is a sitting duck for enterprising home intruders. The valuation of such a home will take a big hit because of this compromised security profile. Even garage door repair may be inadequate for a home that the local B&E guys have targeted as an easy mark. Replacing that old door with a new steel door that closes tight as a drum and provides no cracks or weak spots for burglars to exploit will result in greater home valuation.
5. Convenience: Old garage doors are prone to opening slowly, closing incompletely and breaking down while in motion. Nothing’s worse than arriving home in a driving rain and having the door get stuck halfway up. Who would want to buy a home with such an unreliable garage door? Not many people which is why an old garage door can negatively affect the market value of your home. Today’s energy efficient garage doors open quickly and quietly and are several times as reliable as their counterparts of just a decade ago.

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Call for a New Garage Door in Broomfield

For all of the above reasons your garage door will have an impact on the bottom line value of your home regardless of all the time and effort you may have put into the interior decoration or even if your home was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright himself. As such there’s no better time than the present to consider garage door repair or installing a new garage door on your home, particularly if you are contemplating putting it up for sale.

Market values are funny things often affected by intangibles, like garage doors. Don’t let something as easily fixable as the garage door drag down the value of your home. Give the pros at A Better Garage Door a call today to discuss what type of door would be a perfect match for your Westminster or Thornton home. A better looking, more convenient, safer, more energy efficient and more valuable home is just a phone call away.

Selling Your Home? Here's Why You Should Give Your Garage Some TLC

Now that we know why this is so important, let’s talk about what we can do to increase your home value. Selling your home is always a nerve-wracking experience and one fraught with uncertainty. But if there’s one thing home staging has taught us it’s that there’s no substitute for presenting a home in the best possible light. Real estate agents will readily attest to the fact that a home that’s been properly staged with stylish furniture, complementary artwork and new paint all around will sell faster and for a better price than a home that’s presented as-is. But why should this approach of presenting the home in the best possible light apply only to the interior? Below our garage door repair experts explain why sprucing up the garage door is just as important as painting the living room when it comes to selling your house.

Getting Your Garage Door Ready for Buyers

The garage door is the largest single component of your home’s exterior. Nothing else really comes close. Not the front door or even the picture window. As such the garage door is going to impact the curb appeal of your home whether you like it or not. So if you are about to put your home on the market you need to take the garage door into consideration. Here are some things you can do to spruce up the garage door and why you should do them.

• Fix the Garage Door - If there are any problems with the door the time to call the garage door repair company is before the potential buyers start to arrive. Why? Well, imagine this scenario: prospective buyers have just parked in front of the house with the real estate agent. They get out of the car, stop, and take a good long look at your house. They like what they see. Suddenly someone who doesn’t want to be home while buyers are touring the house tries to open the garage door to get out. The door shutters to life, rises unevenly because one of the extension springs is worn out or broken, squeaks and squeals its way to the open position and then noisily and unevenly lowers itself back into position with one side of the door not closing all the way. The prospective buyers then get back in the agent’s car and drive to the next house. Call for garage door repair in Loveland or Commerce City before entertaining prospective buyers.
• Give the door a facelift - Sometimes the things that could cause a garage door to undermine your ability to sell your home are not mechanical but aesthetic. As the number 1 Broomfield garage door repair company we’ve seen this happen on numerous occasions. Folks put their home on the market only to become aware after the fact that the less than spectacular appearance of their garage door is damaging their sale prospects. Don’t wait until a potential buyer has been turned off. Wash the door top to bottom. Once it’s nice and clean inspect the panels. Are there any that are cracked, dented or warped? If so, replace them. Raise and lower the door a few times. If its squealing and creaking or anything seems amiss, call us. We’ll come straight over, do a thorough maintenance check and return the door to smooth, quiet operation. Finally, don’t hesitate to paint the entire door if it needs it.
• Install a new garage door - This may sound like a drastic step but if your door is old and in need of repair replacing it before buyers start arriving is the smart thing to do. If you just clean up a rickety old door and hope no one notices you could be in hot water after the sale when the buyer discovers you left him or her with a faulty door. Also, chances are pretty good that any savvy buyer is going to ask to see the door in action anyway. At which time its sorry state of repair will be revealed. Don’t take a chance. Installing a new door isn’t as expensive as it seems and it could make the difference between losing a sale and achieving the sale price you’re after. At A Better Garage Door we have a full line of beautiful, affordable state of the art doors to choose from.

Conclusion

The garage door is the largest single moving thing in your home. It’s also the largest single component of the exterior of the house. It’s going to make a difference in how the house is perceived by would-be buyers either for better or worse. Don’t take a chance. If your door needs work call for garage door repair in Commerce City, Thornton, or nearby communities throughout the Denver metro area. We’ll make sure your garage door is looking good and running smooth as silk.