3 of the Top Home Buyer Turn Offs of 2017
Selling a home in today’s market can at times be more than a bit frustrating. There are all sorts of home staging and property preparation advice out there, and some of it seems daunting or impossible to follow unless you already have a serious savings set aside to whip your place into shape in a timely manner.
However, even if you do not have thousands to spend on a renovation, there are a few things that you can avoid which will help you to sell your home for as much as profit as possible, and in the shortest amount of time.
Here are 5 big-time turn-offs that make buyers cringe at the thought of purchasing your home.
Cluttered, or “Fragrant” Houses
You already know this one. Every seller does. Yet, even in 2017, the era of home renovation and real estate shows buyers across America walk into homes that would make your mother cringe every single day. The people who come to see your home are making one of the biggest decisions they’ll ever make. Cluttered counter tops, neglected toilet seats and unattended litter boxes not only invite the viewer to turn up their nose, they practically compel a buyer to walk away.
Luckily, you have all the control in the world over how your house looks to your would be buyer. Some sellers find it helpful to think not about de-cluttering, but about pre-packing. Everything that is not part of the home’s decor or furnishing and that is not a must for your daily functioning should be boxed up, and neatly packed away in the garage or a storage unit. You’ll have to pack it all up anyway when your home sells, and doing it in advance just makes it more likely the place will sell that much faster!
Overpricing. Buying a House in Today’s Market Isn’t Easy!
On top of all the research and analysis about the market, buyers have to work overtime to separate the real estate wheat from the chaff and often put in several offers before they get even a single one accepted. The last thing they want to add to their task list is trying to argue a seller out of unreasonable expectations or pricing.
When buyers see a home whose seller is clearly clueless about what their home’s actual market value is and has priced it sky-high, many won’t even bother looking at it. If they do love it, they’ll wait for it to sit on the market for a while, hoping the market will “educate you” into desperation, priming the pump for a later, low ball offer.
When it comes down to it, the choice is yours, however this is an example of why having a professional real estate agent working with you is so important. If you price your property at an unrealistic amount, you will not be able to sell your home in a timely manner, nor will you have an overly positive experience overall.
Deceptive Descriptions or Pictures
Here is the much needed reality for some sellers: you will never be able to trick someone into buying your home. If listing pics are photo-edited within an inch of their lives, buyers will learn this information at some point. If your neighborhood is described as funky and vibrant, because the house is under the train tracks and you live in between a garbage dump and a biker bar, buyers will inevitably figure this out.
And misrepresentation alone is enough to turn otherwise interested buyers off. In cases where the buyer feels misled, whether or not that was your intention, they can’t help but wonder: If they can’t trust you to be honest about this, how can they trust you to be honest about everything else?
Buyers rely on sellers to be upfront and honest – so be both. If your home has features or aspects that most buyers will see as negative, your home’s listing probably shouldn’t lead with them. But neither should you go out of your way to slant or skew or spin the facts which will become instantly obvious to anyone who visits your home. And in any event, your pricing should account for all of your home’s features, pros and cons.