Via LO Social Bot – source TBWS
Deal-killing rooms can crop up anywhere in a house, and there can be more than one.
In her yearlong house hunting expedition, Brooklyn-based realtor.com writer Margaret Heidenry recently compared shopping for a home to dating. “I toured countless homes, and that first visit is a lot like a first date. It can be going great right up until you spot your personal deal killer—like a pack of cigarettes in her purse, or white socks with sandals. Check, please!”
Deal-killing rooms can crop up anywhere in a house, and there can be more than one. Realtors will readily list the most common offenders for you — those that make buyers cringe en masse. Here are a few:
Echoing voices in empty rooms do not make buyers ask for a second date. It’s like finding you have little to nothing to talk about. Empty rooms make buyers wonder what a room can be used for even if there is a closet in the corner. The void makes imperfections scream out at buyers — visuals like stains on the ceiling, windows overlooking brick walls, or peeling floor moldings. The solution? Don’t leave it empty. Stage it as something — an office, a library, an extra sitting area, or a guest bedroom. Simply placing a little IKEA desk, chair and area rug on the diagonal, along with some lighting and a potted plant can mean the difference between a buyer ending their tour or one eager to see the rest of the place.
Let there be light. No one wants to walk into a dark room. Throw open the curtains, raise the blinds and add light fixtures — do whatever it takes to make the room look welcoming, including lightening up the paint color if need be. No one cares that it may have been a sanctuary for getting rid of your migraines. Just do it. Again, add a real (not a fake) plant. Believe it or not, when buyers see live plants they think there was enough light in the room to keep it growing.
The bathroom from hell. What is it? It’s carpeted. Ew. Or it has a bathtub enshrouded with a tacky shower curtain strategically drawn as to discourage buyers from pulling it back to reveal its Psycho-like depths. Those depths might include dirty grout, chipped porcelain, pitted fixtures or even a collection of shampoo bottles and bath gels sitting in pools of water. Realtors agree that it matters not whether a house is large or small, high end or affordable. Every woman walks straight into the bathroom and looks at the bathtub. They advise their clients to either refinish the tub or replace it. As for that carpeting? Replace it with tile. Why? Because no matter how pristine perfect the rest of the house, scenes like this translate into time and money ahead to a potential buyer.
Kitchens either sell homes or turn buyers away. They are the heart of your home. And just as your homemade lasagna evokes shrieks of delight each time you place it in the center of the table, buyers need to have a similar reaction to your kitchen. There are some easy fixes, such as completely clearing your counters of nearly everything, including canister sets, toasters, Nespresso machines, the Vitamix and your collection of cookbooks. This at least can hint at more abundant prep space. Quick solutions are geared toward a lot of visual bang for the buck, such as refacing or painting those existing “honey oak” cabinets or swapping out outdated appliances with ones newer than the ones you have.
Other rooms and areas can send buyers running we well, including creepy basements, entryways cluttered with galoshes and coats, formal living rooms that serve no purpose except for photo ops on holidays, closets whose walls have not been visible for decades, and cupboards filled the bounty of Tupperware party hostess gifts.
Ask your Realtor to give you an honest assessment by posing as a potential buyer walking into your home for the first time. Then get to work. We warn you, though. By the time you implement all these improvements, you may decide to stay and not sell. It happens.
