When you're selling your home,
you need every advantage you can get. And there are few homes that are
magically market ready without a little help. If your home needs a touch more
than a little help, it's time to get focused. After all, listing your home when
it's not in the right condition to sell will probably only end in frustration.
And, in this case, frustration means: your home sitting on the market for
months with no offers or the errant, offensive, lowball.
If you want to make sure you get
home sold quickly and for the right price, you'll want to avoid listing it with
the following:
1. Excessive damage
Maybe the home you're selling was
used as a rental and trashed by frat boy tenants, or maybe you just haven't
kept it up as you should. Either way, those holes in the wall that look like
the living room was used as a boxing gym, the scratched-up wood floors on which
dinosaurs have clearly been racing, and the yard that's barren except for those
two-foot-tall patches of weeds are not what buyers are looking for. Unless
you're planning to offer your house for a price that will make buyers emphasize
the good and ignore the bad and the ugly, it's going to need some attention.
2. Carpet in the bathroom
It's just gross. And everyone who
walks into that bathroom is thinking one of two things: 1) There's gotta be
mold under there; 2) There's gotta be pee on the floor around that toilet. This
is one update you'll want to do before you list. Or, if you're already listed
and your home's not selling.
3. Big, nasty stains
A buyer shouldn't know where your
dog likes to mark or where your kids spilled the entire bowl of holiday punch.
If the stains on your carpet are that bad, potential buyers will stroll in and
run right back out. No one wants to buy a pigsty. Invest a few bucks in new
carpet. You'll make the money back since you won't have to drop your sales
price.
4. Pet smells
Speaking of pets…they smell. You
probably don't notice since you live with them everyday, but buyers will, and
it might be enough to turn them off. Deep clean the carpets and the upholstery,
invest in some air fresheners, and remove cat boxes from the house for
showings. The last thing you want is a potential buyer referring to your house
as "the stinky one."
5. Loud dogs who bark every time
someone approaches the home
One last word on pets. barking
happens, whether it's your dog or one that belongs to a neighbor. But you don't
need that on the day of your open house. Offering to pay for doggie day care
for a neighbor's pooch can eliminate the issue and help create the serene
setting buyers want.
6. Your dead lawn
Lack of curb appeal won't
necessarily kill a deal. In many cases, you won't even get potential buyers to
get out of the car. If the front yard is a mess, buyers will naturally think
the mess continues inside.
7. A bad agent
Face it. Not all of them are
winners. If your agent is: rude, uninformed, lazy, uncommunicative,
belligerent, or unwilling to take your opinions into consideration, get a new
one. An agent who isn't giving their client the right type of attention probably
isn't going to get the job done.
8. Your sloppiness
Those drawers and cabinets you
shoved everything into when you cleaned off your kitchen and bathroom cabinets
could be a deal breaker for picky buyers. We all know buyers open stuff. They
look in drawers, they open cabinets, they examine closets. If these spaces are
messy and overstuffed, they may assume there's not enough storage space.
9. Unreasonable sellers
Big problems in your house can be
deal killers, but they can also be deal sealers, if you are reasonable. If your
inspection uncovers plumbing, electrical, or roofing problems (or all three!)
and you're unwilling to negotiate, you can kiss that sale goodbye.
10. Bad Taste
Your poor decorating choices and
failure to keep up with trends from this year—or century—may haunt you when
it's time to sell. If it's true that many buyers have no vision—and all you
have to do is watch House Hunters and observe a buyer getting hung up on a
paint color to know that's true—then you are really in for it with your crowded
house full of ugly, outdated crap. A few simple updates can help it to look
fresh and give buyers something to fall in love with.
Written by Jaymi Naciri on
Thursday, 22 January 2015 10:08 am for Realty Times
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