Your home is not going to be the buyer’s home as long as it’s YOUR home! Got it? I mean to say, detach yourself from your home when it’s time to sell it and give it a neutral look so the buyer can see himself inhabiting the place.
How can they imagine themselves living there when it’s you they see everywhere, from the walls to refrigerator doors, right?
Your house might be big, warm and all so dear to you, but the fact of the matter is: it’s NOT their home yet – they won’t let slide even the littlest of things that seem out of place when they come for a tour.
Before you find yourself wondering what upset your potential homebuyers, go through the points below and make sure to mend them up before your next showing!
1) Who Loves Mess and Dirt?
Messy rooms, dirty bathrooms, cluttered up kitchens – OK, I admit my home is like that too, at times, – but you wouldn’t want your messed up living to show when potential homebuyers visit your house. If you don’t want your house to look like an eyesore, clean it up and put away anything that seems to be spoiling its order.
2) Bad Odor Repels Everyone
Yeah, bad smells are bad! They can cause your home buyers to be looking for a chance to leave instead of looking at the property that they came to scout out. Bad smells can be coming from your pets, long unwashed carpets, damp ceilings, etc.
To tackle bad odors don’t use some kind of air freshener as that’ll alert the buyers and their agents. Go to the root cause and fix it well.
3) Creepy Critters…
Have you ever been frozen to the spot at a sight of fleeing creatures in your bedroom as you turned on the light? Well, the buyer will feel the same when they see little creepy creatures making it back to their shady dwellings as a human steps in the room.
Bed bugs, centipedes, cockroaches, etc. are not exactly cool to share your rooms with. So get them exterminated before a showing!
4) A Haunted House Next-door!
“Christ! I don’t wanna stay here!” That’s what a buyer might think when you’ve got a haunted house next door.
By that, I don’t mean a haunted house that would require the Warrens to bless it. Instead I mean a nasty, eerie-looking house that hasn’t probably been taken care of by your neighbors for years.
What you might do is talk to your neighbor, or take this up with the authorities directly and it’ll nudge your neighbor into action for sure.
5) Dimly Lit Rooms
Rooms with little or no light are not welcoming, you know that, don’t you? Then it’s probably best for you to light up your house well when you’re showing it. If it’s day and not night then draw the curtains open and let your rooms shine with fresh daylight.
God, what could be more welcoming, isn’t it?
6) Your Pets Might Mess Up!
If you have pets make sure they are not around when potential homebuyers are around exploring the house. That’s because pets are always unpredictable. Your dog or cat may not like the buyers and even if they like the buyers, the buyers may not like pets.
In any case keep the pets away (at daycare, maybe) when you’re showing the property!
7) Unkempt Yards
Yards with uneven grass and bald patches everywhere won’t do you any good.
You might think you’ve got only one day off (Sunday, obviously) to rest and unwind yourself and that gardening is so much of trouble to pick up on that day. You think I’m going to dispute that? Never! Not any of that!
But, the thing is if you want top dollar for your house you might want to compromise your Sunday, upgrade your lawn and work on it so that buyers won’t be stepping back right from the front gate.
8) Wall-to-Wall Carpeting
Wall to wall carpeting is out of fashion. It’s no more useful if you’re looking to impress buyers with your beautiful, exotic Persian carpets.
The buyers will want to see your floor – that’s what they’re interested in – and how it looks and if you’ve got carpeting everywhere they might (and they definitely will) feel unsure about your house.
With such carpeting they will feel something’s hidden, something’s missing – and that’s the floor.
So, the point is: open up your house as much as possible for the buyers to explore.
9) Ah, Wallpapers!
Well, to put it very straight, the buyer is not interested in your stories and all the collections that you’ve displayed on the walls, including the wallpaper itself!
Vibrant, colorful wallpapers are such a terrible sight for potential homebuyers because all they can think of is the costs they’ll be running tearing the wallpapers down and cleaning up the walls later.
What buyers want is decent, light-colored walls to let them visualize what to make of them when they move in…
10) ‘You’ May Be a Turnoff Too!
One final turnoff that will not only put off the visitors but also make them feel so uncomfortable and uneasy is YOU.
You just don’t want buyers to cut short their tour and hit the car because you kept lingering around all the time and didn’t let them and their agents discuss things openly.
Also, when owners stick around many buyers are uncomfortable even looking at the walls – particularly, if you have pictures hanging up there – because they might feel that they are invading and violating your privacy.
So, the tour becomes a mere customary visit where they kill time, look here and there and head for another appointment.
Mend Up and Sell Better!
It’s time for me to wind up… The ball is now in your court.
It’s up to you how far you can go in pulling the improvements we’ve gone through and setting up higher chances of selling for (or over) the market price.
Apart from the ten turn offs for house buyers there may be other more subtle reasons that keep pushing potential homebuyers away and if you pay attention you’ll spot them too! What you’ve got to do is ask a friend or your agent to step in and give their true opinion on your house.
And, practically speaking, if you just follow my advice and eliminate the above ten turn offs on showing that SHOULD do the job for you anyway.
So make your plan, get at it and get it done before your next buyer drops.
Happy Selling!
