Your home may have the makings of an easy sale. It may have the ideal school catchment or the best neighbourhood, but at the end of the day, buyers are looking for value. If your home has any of the following features, it could serve as a deterring factor for most buyers according to We Buy Any House!
*Unclean Or Loud Neighbours
The kinds of neighbours you have does impact your ability to sell your home. Whether a neighbour likes loud music or has a barking dog, these can all negatively impact the value of your home. It’s also important to search the National Sex Offender Registry as you may inadvertently live next to a registered offender!
*Poor Outdoor Curb Appeal
The exterior of your property is one of the first things that potential buyers will look at. Peeling, cracked or chipped paint will serve as a turnoff for most buyers. Likewise, even a flawless paint job in a harsh or loud color may negatively impact your chances of selling. Buyers like homes with neutral colored exteriors such as gray, beige or white. If your home has clashing colors, give it a paint job with something calm and neutral.
*Ignored Maintenance
Tackle any backlog of home maintenance problems you have— no matter how big or small! Ignoring maintenance will erode the value of your property while becoming a glaring red flag to most potential buyers. Furthermore, waiting too long to handle problems with a home will mean spending even more money on remediation later on.
*Foreclosures In Your Area
If your neighbourhood has a large number of foreclosures, this can also hurt your home’s value. The reason is that buyers look at your neighbourhood comps when considering the perceived value of a property. In addition, many foreclosures are vacant for long periods of time with deferred maintenance that can further negatively impact your property.
*Proximity To Undesirable Businesses
Your property’s value is also impacted if you’re in close proximity to certain undesirable businesses or facilities. A strip club can lower your chances of selling by 14.7% while a bad school can hurt you upwards of 22.2%. Fairly high on the list are also cemeteries, power plants, homeless shelters, funeral homes, shooting ranges, and even hospitals.
*An Unkempt Yard
Your property values can take a major hit if you ignore the outdoor curb appeal of your yard. Of course, going overboard with a fancy koi fish pond can also deter home buyers as they dislike the added responsibility of keeping it clean. Lastly, no one wants a property with trees too close in proximity to the home, or as studies have revealed, within 20 feet.
*Making It Too Personal
Buyers will always make mental notes of things they need to change in a home in order to make it their own. From replacing worn out wallpaper to quirky fixtures, these all add to their to-do lists. If you want to add an unconventional detail within your home, make sure it’s easy to remove before listing your house for sale.
*Garage Conversions
Many homeowners wrongly believe that garage conversions increase property values, when in reality, they lower them. Most buyers don’t want a workout room or daycare in their garage, but simply a place for their cars and yard equipment. If you do need your garage to serve a dual purpose, make sure you can easily convert it back if you list your home for sale.
*Too Much Carpeting
Wall-to-wall carpeting is another feature that deters buyers. From being hard to keep clean to retaining allergens, carpeting is a no-no on most lists. In fact, 54% of buyers are willing to pay more for hardwood or engineered wood flooring.