How To Hater Proof Your Home

Part 2 of ways to Hater Proof Your Home when you list it for sale.

In Part 1, we discussed the impact of odors and over-pricing on your ability to sell your home in today's market.

Today, we will discuss Dirt & Messes and Little Malfunctions.

House Hater Complaint #3:  Dirt and Messes.  Most people think that their home will show well if they keep it clean (ie. dusted, vacuumed, swept).  While cleanliness is a very important part of the equation, another important factor often gets overlooked.  Like odors, people tend to not notice their own clutter after a period of time. It becomes a part of the landscape inside their home.  So, again, like odors, while you may not notice it any more, potential buyers will notice nothing but the clutter when they visit your home.  Things like dirty dishes in the sink, piles of laundry, piles of papers, magazines and books, scattered toys, unmade beds and unironed clothes piled in the corner next to the ironing board will create a big distraction to buyers.  Instead of seeing the great kitchen, open living room, beautiful view and detailed decor, they will only see the mess and either shy away from making an offer or make a lower offer because they feel the home needs work. Keeping the clutter at bay while your home is on the market is crucial in getting it sold quickly and for the best price. If you don't have space to put everything away, rent a storage unit and clean out as much as you can.  You will need to clean it out and box it up to move anyway; why not get it done now and make your home give it's best first impression to everyone who visits it.

House Hater Complaint #4:  Lots of little malfunctions.  All of us tend to think our homes are in fantastic condition.  After all, you have the A/C system maintained regularly, you've got granite and dual paned windows, you had the floor professionally polished and carpets steam cleaned, you painted the walls - all in preparation for putting your home on the market.
That's all fantastic - all the non-cosmetic work you've done to maintain and improve your home should be trumpeted in your marketing materials and the cosmetic items will (or should) speak for themselves.  The reality is this - buyers who visit your home won't be running your dishwasher or testing the A/C system during their visits (they know this will be done during the inspection process). What they will do, almost unconsciously, is:

• flick light and fan switches
• open or close windows coverings, closet, room and entry doors
• open and close drawers, cupboards, gates and fences
• hold handrails on stairways
• turn on faucets and flush toilets

They will notice even the smallest things (uneven floors, water spots from past leaks, uneven trim) while looking at your home. During the buying process, buyers subconsciously are trying to justify in their minds why they should purchase a home. Little imperfections give them reason to justify a low offer or maybe not even making an offer on an otherwise great property.  You don't want them to think "what could be wrong that I can't see". 

Fixing many of these items is usually inexpensive.  You will do yourself a big favor by fixing them before putting your home on the market.  If you are concerned that you might miss something a buyer will notice, have your agent walk through the home with you to make a list of what needs to be fixed.  Again, making the best first impression possible will make a big difference in the long run.  You will get your home sold more quickly and for more money if you do.

Some aspects of this post were taken from an article written by Tara-Nicholle Nelson for Trulia's Real Estate Realist.

This completes our series on Hater Proofing Your Home when Listing It For Sale. Check back soon for more valuable tips regarding buying or selling a property.

How to Hater-Proof Your Home, Before You List It

Avoiding "haters" is nearly impossible, unless you hide in a closet and never interact with anyone. When putting your home up for sale, you are opening your home and everything about it up to everyone, including the "haters".  As a home seller, you job is not to try to make your home be all things to all people.  That said, you don't want to be the house that nearly every buyer and broker sees, rolls their eyes and utters the same few, predictable deal-killing criticisms.  Fortunately, what is predictable is avoidable.
Over the next few posts, we will explore the most common things buyers hate about listings they see.  In the process, you'll get equipped to sidestep those issues and, in large part, hater-proof your own home.

House Hater Complaint #1:  Odors. This may seem like an obvious situation that most home sellers naturally avoid.  Unfortunately, it is a very common complaint from potential buyers and their agents after viewing properties.

Viewing a home sounds like it's all about the visual of the experience.  And visuals are critical - your home should be in its Sunday best, so to speak, when it's being shown, in terms of being spruced, staged and clutter-free.  But when a buyer comes to see your home, they don't turn off the rest of their senses.  There is nothing that can turn a buyer off from a home, they might otherwise like, more quickly than a powerful, bad odor - in particular, cigarette and pet odors in a house that seems to have been well-cleaned.  This could create the concern that they might be permanent and that the buyer might not be able to get rid of them without dropping some serious cash on cleaning or even removing wall, window and floor coverings.

If you are a seller and you know that someone has been habitually smoking in your home or that you have had a "challenge" with pet accidents, do not ignore the problem.  Also, do not think that because you had the carpet shampooed or the drapes cleaned, or because YOU can't smell anything, that the problem is gone.  The fact is that the human sense of smell very quickly gets used to smells that it lives with or is surrounded with on a regular basis.  So it's critical to get your agent, stager or even your friends and family members (who don't live with you but love you enough to be honest) to help you detect bad smells and odors, and make sure they are eradicated by any means necessary, before you place your home on the market.

House Hater Complaint #2:  Glaringly extreme overpricing.  With the availability of information today through various Real Estate websites, buyers are more educated than ever when it comes to home values.  If buyers realize that a home is "slightly" overpriced, they will still see it to see if they like it enough to make an offer and negotiate a favorable price.  If a home is overpriced by a larger percentage or amount, buyers will monitor it to see if and when price reductions occur before spending their time actually visiting it.  Then there is the kind of overpricing that makes buyers run away from a property as fast as they can.

When it comes to extreme overpricing, most likely buyers will sit and watch to see if the sellers will ever get serious about selling. Extreme overpricing usually requires several price reductions which, in turn, makes the property sit on the market for a much longer period than necessary.  The listing becomes stale and, in the long run, sells for much less than if it had been priced properly to begin with.  With our market getting stronger every day, we are seeing newer listings sell very quickly (often within days and with multiple offers) because they have been priced properly.  The greatly overpriced properties from a year ago are still sitting on the market and being ignored by buyers. When it comes to pricing, we often say to our sellers:  "Do you want to be on the market or in the market?"


In our next post, we will discuss the affects of cleanliness and imperfections.

Some aspects of this post were taken from an article written by Tara-Nicholle Nelson for Trulia's Real Estate Realist.