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Another great article by Tara-Nicolle Nelson about turn offs that make buyers cringe at the thought of considering your home and what you can do as a seller to to prevent your home from being an offender.  Following are the issues and steps sellers can take:

1. Stalker-ish Sellers: You may think your being helpful walking the buyer through your home during a showing, pointing out the wagon wheel light fixture you made by hand, the custom mural of a stingray you paid top dollar for to have it appear accross your family room wall, and noting the sounds of happy school children cutting accross your lawn to get to the next block and how their voices lifts your spirits.  However, the buyers are likely trying really hard to ignore, minimize, or figure out how to undo the very features of your home you hold dear.  They also likely want or need to hold ave "space" to speak with their mate and/or agent about things they may want to change to make it their home without you hawking over them.  Many times, the more these types of conversations and greater detail can result in more serious consideration about your home.

What's a seller to do?  Back off.  Remove yourself from the property during showings.  If you feel you need to be there, at least walk outside or go down the street to the coffee shop.  If the buyers have questions about the home, they will contact you and are likely to come up with better thoughtout questions if you are not standing over them while viewing your home.

2. Shabby, dirty, crowded and/or smelly houses.  You may think you already know this one, but it is amazing how sellers get use to what they think is a clean/neat home but not so much for a new set of eyes (or nose).  Buyers are about to make the biggest financial decision in their lives and they are going to make quick judgements on how much time they'll spend in the sea of available homes.  Your job is to make yours stand out from the instant they pull into your driveway and in your fron door.

What's a seller to do?  Other than listing your home at a competitive price, the only control you have over the process is differentiating your home from the competition.  Pre-pack the items you don't need or use anymore.  Do not show it without having it picked up, cleaned, and no dirty dishes or laundry sitting out.  Eliminate or reduce pet odor and clean out or remove litter boxes.

3. Irrational seller expectations.  Buyers are faced with a lot of hard work in researching and analyzing the market and what they can afford.  They are looking for somewhere they can afford for 5, 7, 10 years or more, so buyers have to educated about all the options including short sales, foreclosures, and a myriad of financing options.  The last thing they want to do is try to argue with a seller about unreasonable expectations or pricing.  Remember, there are so many properties for sale out there, they don't have to do this.  If they have issues to work through with your home, they aren't going to bother argue pricing.  If they do like your home, they may wait you out, hoping the market will "educate" you about properly pricing your home.

What's a seller to do?  Get real about pricing your home!  Get out of your little world and go see other properties for sale in your area comparable to yours.  If you have less curb appeal, space, or fewer upgrades, don't expect to get the same price for your home.  If you owe more than you can sell it for, maybe you shouldn't even consider selling or see if you can sell as a short sale.  If you must sell for financial reasons, over pricing will only mean it will be on the market longer and may never sell at an unreasonable price.

4. Feeling Misled.  You will never trick anyone into buying your home.  If you describe your neighborhood as funky and vibrant as code for the fact your home is under a railroad track and next to a biker bar, prospects will  figure this out quickly.  If you state offers will be verbally approved, don't go back the next day asking for additional money.  If you mislead or can't be honest about your listing, how can they expect you to be honest about condition or anything else?

What's a seller to do?  Buyers rely on sellers to be honest and upfront, so be both.  While you don't have to point out all the features or aspects that could be perceived as negative, don't gou out of your way to slant, skew, or spin the facts which will be obvious to buyers and their agents.  Review the description to be published before it is released to make sure you are not misleasding prospective buyers.

5. New, ugly home improvements: Who hasn't walked into a home that has been remodeled and upgraded in anticipation of the sale, only to discover the brand spanking new kitchen features a countertop made of not granite or marble, but pink tiles with a kitty cat in the middle of them.  Or pristine, just -installed carpet in a creamy shade of blue.  New improvements that are contrary to a buyers taste have as bad an impact as if you hadn't spent the money.  If buyers are thinking they will have to replace counter tops or carpet, they would rather think of doing it to older items than have to pay for your new upgrades in the price of the home and then still have to replace these things!

What's a seller to do? Check with a REALTOR before you make  a big investment in remodelling.  They can give you a reality check on which investments may give you a return on your investment and which may be a waste of time and money.  Updating appliances and painting/refinishing cabinets will be a lot less costly and give you a better return than a new $20,000 kitchen.  They can also help you identify more neutral colors and patterns which will appeal to a broader group of buyers.

6. Crazy listing photos (or no photos at all): We've all seen them.  Listing photos with garbage cans sitting in front of the garage door, piles of laundry on the laminite floor you are promoting, unmade beds and walls adorned with "unusual" artifacts.  These kinds of pictures will turn off potential buyers from even considering looking at your house in person.  Just as bad are listings with one picture or none at all.  This is immediately a signal that your are trying to hide something and they will click right past your listing without giving your home a second glance.

What's a seller to do?  Take more photos than you will ever use in your listing.  The beauty of digital photography is that you can take a lot of pictures and then later pare the number down to only the one's that put on the best "face" of your home.  Review the listing photos on-line as they may look different there.  Again, it is easy to remove or replace photos from the on-line listing.

Again, many of these items seem simple, silly, or already considered.  The problem is, the way we live isn't how prospective buyers live so to give yourself the best opportunity to move you listing quickly is to be "buyer friendly".  Remember, you can't go wrong with clean and neutral!

Call or email if you would like me to go through your home with you for free consultation regarding making your home the most "saleable" it can be!