During the sale of your home, you will probably come face to face with an ugly truth – there are certain parts of your house (design and structure-wise) that buyers might not like. It’s hard to hear, but read on to learn some of the major aspects of your home that buyers will be looking for and what they really don’t care to see (or smell)! 

Odors and stains from smoking, pets, and food

No one loves animals, especially dogs, more than I do, but sometimes  you can tell they’re around before you see them … because they smell! You’ve lived in your house for many years and you’ve made countless memories with your beloved pet, but if you haven’t deep cleaned your carpet in a while, Fido can still be spotted. You don’t want to give the prospective buyers a hint that you may have neglected your carpets or flooring, and if someone is allergic, they may turn away from the house without giving it a true glance strictly because there were pets living there. Same goes for smoking and food.

An agent walked into an office on a Monday after holding several open houses over the weekend, and proceeded to tell us that the seller decided to make a tuna fish sandwich right before the open house began! Imagine walking into a $900,000 home and smelling tuna… not very appealing, right? Remember to be courteous to the prospective buyers. While you might be enjoying your lunch, others might get the wrong impression. As they think back about the many houses they walked through, do you really want your home to be remembered as “the tuna house”?

Clutter

If you’re not familiar with the Eric Stewart Group or if this is your first time stumbling upon us, I want to introduce you to the Rightsizing Guide. It’s a guide that explains everything you need to know about downsizing, and, effectively, reducing the clutter in your home. There are 5 things you can do with “stuff”: throw it away, donate it, give it to the children, put it in storage, or take it with you. For more information, or to grab yourself a FREE copy of our Rightsizing Guide, you can follow this link. 

Related Articles:

• Get Your House Ready to Sell with These 5 Decluttering Tips
• Downsizing Can Help Save You Money for Retirement if Done Right
• Avoid These 8 Common Home Buyer Mistakes
• How to Attract More Buyers to your Listing

That wallpaper from the 50’s

If you’ve lived in your home for a long time, you might not have had enough time or energy to take off the bright, floral wallpaper in the bathroom. You might love it. It might remind you of better times or it might be your specific taste and aesthetic. Unfortunately, buyers are currently looking for a space that they can make their own, which means, if buyers see a wallpaper covering a bathroom completely, they might not want the headaches of removing it themselves or they won’t be able to look past it at all. You might have kept the wallpaper up because it was something you enjoyed, but a buyer could look at it and think “if they couldn’t modernize the bathroom, did they neglect other aspects of the house, as well?” 

Outdated appliances

Along the same thought process as the point before – some buyers in the higher price range aren’t looking to do much work when they move to a new home. An updated kitchen can sway buyers in the right direction, because kitchen make-overs can be a headache!

Always consult with your REALTOR® to see what would be your best return on investment. It’s our suggestion that you do not make any updates to your house without consulting your REALTOR®. We want to help you with the sale of your home and that means helping you know what all of your options are. It’s also an option to sell your home AS-IS! It’s important to find an expert to help you gauge your property value to be able to sell for the right price. 

To learn more about how to get your home ready to sell, download our Market Ready Guide today, or leave us a comment and we’ll get back to you ASAP! Don’t forget to subscribe on the right!

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