10 Turn Offs to Potential Buyers (aka Why Your Home Won't Sell)
Ahh…the open house. The next step in getting your house sold. Now you just need one of them to make an offer and you’ll be sold! If only it was that easy. What happens when you see no traction from multiple potential buyers coming in and out of your home? Is it the price? Should the home be reduced? Hmmm…maybe the right person just hasn’t discovered it yet. Or…maybe your home is committing some of the terrible sins that shoo any potential buyers away the moment they walk into the door. But don’t feel bad, as a lot of homeowners are guilty of some turn offs without even realizing it.
If you are looking to sell your home, here are 10 turn offs to avoid for optimum selling success:
1. CLUTTER
Don’t confuse a cluttered home as the same as a dirty one. That is, don’t associate a professionally cleaned home as one that is also decluttered. Clutter can loosely be defined as all the “stuff” you have in your home, sometimes bordering on too much “stuff.” When potential buyers come into your home, they want to be able to envision themselves in the space, and too much clutter everywhere limits them from doing that. The beautiful architectural features could all get missed due to the distracting clutter in the forefront. Often times, the longer you have lived in a home, the more you will have collected and accumulated through time. That leads a lot of people dreading the act of decluttering, or rather siphoning through what should be kept displayed throughout the selling process, what should be packed away, and what to ultimately go ahead and get rid of. You are looking to move, right? You will have to go through that process at some point. No time is better than the present! Areas like kitchen and bathroom countertops, piles of magazine and books, and overcrowded bookshelves are some of the most common cluttered culprits to tackle head on. The good news is that if you feel overwhelmed already just by reading this there are home staging and organizing solutions that help from start to finish with this process.
2. DATED DÉCOR
You may think that your décor doesn’t matter when selling your home. But homebuyers are looking for up-to-date furnishings and accessories when viewing a home and if all they see is dated décor when they walk in your home, you are sabotaging the sell of your home by turning potential buyers off. That ultimately will make the process of selling your home much more exhausting and difficult for you.
There are options based on what your home décor dilemmas may be. For instance, certain solid furniture pieces can be saved and easily updated by adding fresh decorative throw pillows. On the flip side, if your living room furniture consists of a 1970s floral sofa and loveseat combination, you may consider packing those furniture pieces away and renting some more modernized pieces, as no throw pillow can detract from those large daisy prints that will catch every buyers eyes (and not in a good way). The living room is one of the key rooms every potential buyer is looking to see and envision his or herself in so it really needs to set the tone with an up-to-date look. Another common dilemma with a quick fix is swapping out an old dated comforter for solid white duvet covers, which goes with any style and look of a bedroom and easily modernizes a space. All of these changes will help ensure your house is front and center, the star of the show, and not your décor.
3. DIRTY
Now that you have been introduced to clutter, it is time to meet clutter’s evil cousin, Turnoff No.3: Dirt. Tackling the dirtiness of a home should be a no-brainer, but sometimes people think a standard cleaning is all that is needed prior to opening the doors to potential buyers. Don’t lose people for lack of deep cleaning your home, but instead opt for a professional cleaning company to come in and tackle all the nooks and crannies that will inevitably be scoped out by buyers. In fact, in a recent National Association of Realtors survey, upon asking realtors what they recommend sellers do in addition to home staging, a staggering 89% listed recommending a cleaning of the entire home as another critical component for selling success.
4. CURB APPEAL
The moment buyers drive up to your home, they are scoping out everything on the outside. From the landscaping to the mailbox to the roofing, any and everything that exists from to the curb to the front door will be inspected for upkeep and appeal. But did you know that’s not all that encompasses “curb appeal”? Not only do you have to take into consideration the physical outer appearance of the home and how it checks out compared to the neighboring homes, but you also have a new component of curb appeal, which is a home’s online listing and the photos that accompany it.
So, what do you do to stand out both in person and online? Well, you still need to maintain your actual curb, like keeping your shrubs trimmed, planting flowers around the mailbox, adding a front door mat, and pressure washing the exterior of the home and driveway. And then, maintain your online “curb” by insuring your home has professional looking photos ands lots of them! Nowadays, buyers are previewing homes online prior to even stepping foot in any home and if your photos are lacking or of poor quality (i.e. low resolution, dimly lit, and cropped out rooms) more than likely buyers will not want to move forward and visit the home in person. Your area’s online listings become like your neighborhood and you want your home to stand out among all the other homes, so make sure your listing is complete with beautiful photos of every room and compelling descriptions that leave buyers dying to see it all in person.
5. DIM LIGHTING
Does your home look like a bright inviting home or is it more of a dimly lit cave? If the latter, you may be turning people away without realizing it. But fear not, as there are easy inviting ways to bring more light into your home and in doing so, impacting the overall value your home conveys. One of the easiest and perhaps no-fail methods is bringing in natural sunlight wherever you can. That can mean opening curtains and blinds fully, sometimes even taking down any window valances that block the sunlight. Once you’ve done all you can do to bring in natural light, focus on the type of lighting you have within your home and whether or not it is helping or hurting how each room looks. Halogen bulbs are a good way to go for overall brightness, as they produce much more wattage than standard bulbs, making a room much more inviting. Adding accent and task lighting to areas you want to showcase and highlight are also important; things that you want a buyer to visualize when they enter a room, like showcasing how great the kitchen space will be for cooking with his or her family, can be highlighted through the art of task lighting.
6. PERSONAL ITEMS
The personal items you have throughout your home are an expression of your style, your family, & your experiences. All of those are wonderful things and all of those are what make a house a home. However, those personal mementos are equally what can deter buyers from seeing themselves in your home. The art of home staging emphasizes the depersonalization of your home in order to appeal to potential buyers. In fact, an overwhelming majority of potential buyers will actually be able to overlook other faults within the home once a home is properly staged and less personal. Whether you elect to have someone help you stage your home or do it yourself, there are certain items that should be swapped out or taken down during the duration of your home being listed in order to make your home most appealing. Any family photos should be taken down, as buyers don’t want to see your family there when they are trying to envision themselves there. Any monogrammed décor should also be swapped out or taken down (i.e. family name wreaths, doormats, or towels). You don’t have to lose the style of your home, but rather some personal editing to make it much more inviting for buyers.
7. HOME REPAIRS
Maintaining the home is the key to getting the price you want for your home. Showing that your home is worth the price in the eyes of buyers means ensuring that any cosmetic repairs and updates have been taken care of and your beautiful home is one that buyers will be able to turn the key on and move in. Usually, the cost to fix any repairs will still be more valuable for you then a price reduction on your property. A recent National Association of Realtor survey found that one of the main characteristics that 38% of buyers were looking for when buying a home was avoiding electrical and plumbing renovations. Meaning, they aren’t looking for more work upon purchasing a home and will more than likely not consider your home a true candidate if that is required. Getting those electrical and plumbing updates tackled prior will save you from losing a good number of potential buyers.
8. SMELLS
Every home has a “smell”, that scent you get when you walk in for the first time. Most of the time we don’t even know what our home smells like because we just get used to it after time. But if you are looking to make the best first impression you can for buyers, you want to ensure the first thing that hits their noses when they walk through the door isn’t a pungent odor. The impact of scents is profound on peoples’ moods, with odors responsible for bringing about negative moods among people. I don’t know about you, but I’m doubtful I can be sold on a home that puts me in a negative mood at the first moment I enter. Common home odors that turn off buyers include smoke, mold, kitchen smells from cooking, pets, and dusty air vents. Odor eliminating candles and air purifiers are the key to ridding a home of those long-standing odors, and creating a positive atmosphere. For added measure, you can choose one universal smell that will evoke positive responses. Natural scents like vanilla, citrus, & green tea in the form of fragrances are the way to go and will undoubtedly create a positive experience for buyers.
9. BARE WALLS
Our mood is not only impacted by smells; the same can be said about how a home’s walls impact our mood. Numerous studies have been done to show how art in particular has a profound impact on one’s overall mood in a space. Art in the form of paintings and theme of landscapes have shown to be one of the most pleasing sites for individuals, impacting the positive feelings and overall view they receive being in a space. While you want to stage your home and depersonalize it, you also don’t want to wipe it clean and void of inspiration and style. Donning your walls with art is the trick to combat any struggling bare walls in your home and can be as simple of highlighting a focal point where you want to draw attention with a large painting hung where you want to draw the eye in.
10. ENTRYWAYS
Lastly, the entryway of a home is the first impression your home presents. It’s like neighborhood speed dating and you want your home to not only make a great first impression, but also a lasting impression that resonates with people within seconds of walking through the front door so that they don’t want to go “meet” any more homes. Studies have been done to show that a whopping 80% of potential buyers know within a matter of seconds after walking through the door whether or not the home is a good fit for them. Psychologists believe that due to our brains’ capabilities of processing more information in less time than the time we take to think we can make such a quick first impression analysis of a home. To make the most out of the mere seconds before judgement, create an inviting entryway by utilizing a console table or bench with a few key décor components to accent each. A mirror if space allows is a common choice that works to open up the space, as well. And you can never go wrong with greenery of some type of plant or flower. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. As you can see from the image below, even the most simple console table with four decor elements can add so much to an entryway.
Now that you know what not to do, you’re well on your way to getting your home sold.
