What Buyers Are Saying About Your Home

Spring is right around the corner, the beginning of the traditional “hot” time for selling a home.  I’ve been out showing homes to several different potential buyers in the last few weeks and have had the chance to get their honest impressions and assessments of the homes we are touring.  It’s information that home sellers who can’t figure out why their house is sitting on the sidelines like a wallflower at the high school dance need to know.

Your new roof is not an upgrade.  Neither is your new hot water heater or the laminate flooring you installed yourself.  Buyers are funny - they expect that the home they purchase will have a functional barrier to keep out the rain, hot water for a shower and flooring that is hopefully younger than they are.  The fact that these items have been recently replaced does not mean that the asking price for your home should be higher than the other 10 for sale in your subdivision.

Curb appeal matters.  When your garden has more weeds than flowers and the shrubbery is so overgrown that we can’t see the house, buyers are saying “Thanks, but we’ll pass” without ever stepping foot through the door.  It’s very awkward to call your agent from in front of your house and tell them that we are canceling at the last minute because your house doesn’t say Welcome Home.

Staging matters too.  When you leave your home vacant, buyers have a hard  time figuring out just what to do with some of those spaces.  Is it an office or a bedroom?  Where does the table go?  Confused buyers don’t buy.  A professional home stager can mean the difference between listing and selling your home.

Buyers don’t want an allowance.  They outgrew that once they got their first after school job.  If you know that the carpet needs to be replaced, the dishwasher is broken and the garage door only rolls up halfway, please fix these items before trying to sell your house.  We have appointments to see 7 other homes tomorrow that don’t have any of these problems, all priced in the same range as yours

Your paneling is ugly and your wallpaper is too.  Nothing turns off a  buyer faster than the thought of spending the first night in their new home stripping that floral wallpaper from the bathroom walls or pulling down the 1974 faux wood paneling in the den.  If you think it’s too expensive to remove and repaint, just wait until you get that first low offer from a buyer who thinks your house is a fixer-upper.

I know that you are anxious to sell quickly at the highest price possible.  Accomplishing this means that you need an unbiased opinion about the condition of your home and what improvements might be needed to make it more appealing to today’s buyers before you put it on the market.  For an an honest assessment of the price and condition of your West Bank home and a recommended list of changes, contact your local, professional agent.   Together, we can make those buyers ask you to dance!

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Copyright 2008. Lisa Heindel, All rights reserved.