4 Deal-Killers To Avoid When Selling Your Residential Real Estate
If you want to sell your home in the near future, then it's important you are aware of the various things that can hang up the process.
While there are many aspects of your property that are out of your control, such as its location, size, or neighbors, there are four things that are nearly guaranteed to kill any real estate deal before it ever gets to the offer stage. These four proven real estate deal-killers are as follows:
1. Offensive Home Odors
Absolutely nothing turns off buyers more than a house with a bad odor or funky smell. While home odors can generally be rectified by removing carpets, painting walls, and doing other simple things, homebuyers are afraid of being stuck living in a stinky house.
To avoid offensive home odors, you shouldn't cook fish or other odoriferous foods until after you move. If you have pets, have someone you trust smell your home and let you know if their odors are present. If they are, then take the appropriate steps to rectify the situation before hiring a real estate agent to sell your house.
2. Exterior Paint That's Peeling
Painting the exterior of a house is expensive and a project most homebuyers don't even want to think about having to deal with. If a buyer has a choice between a well-painted home or one that needs attention, chances are good they will buy the home that needs less work. Alternatively, they may make you a low offer and point to every single thing needing repairs or upgrades as justification.
3. A Damaged or Worn-Out Roof
Even worse than peeling paint, homebuyers rarely want to tackle the job of replacing a home's roof soon after they buy. Often, buyers are cash-poor just after the purchase of a home, and replacing a roof is just simply too expensive for them to deal with.
If your home's roof is worn or damaged, have it replaced or repaired before listing your home. Then, when you do list, your realtor can point out the work was recently completed.
4. Accumulated Junk, Trash, or Pet Waste in the Yards
Finally, while many people love roaming around junkyards, no one wants to purchase one. And, even the most die-hard pet lovers don't want to buy a home that has a yard with a lot of dog feces either.
Before you call up a real estate agent, clean up your yard and remove anything buyers might consider offensive, clutter, or a health hazard.
Talk to a real estate agent for more tips like these.