8 Things Home Buyers Will Hate About Your House

Posted by Richard on April 11, 2017

As a home seller, you don’t want to let the small stuff sabotage your sale.

These eight problems are among the biggest buyer turn-offs, and most of them are easy to fix without spending a ton of money. Take a look.

• Haunted-House Landscapping

If your yard looks like the Addams family owns it, you need to tidy up. Otherwise, buyers may drive by but never come back.

Besides mowing the lawn, your to-do list should include trimming scraggly trees and shrubs and removing anything that’s dead or beyond resuscitation. Edge, weed and mulch garden beds. Plant annuals in a plot or pot for a splash of color (see Cheap Ways to Improve Curb Appeal).

Cost to fix: Around $95 for a landscaper to prune and groom a small tree and a couple of shrubs, according to www.diyornot.com. If you’d rather be packing boxes than mowing the lawn, you’ll probably pay a lawn service $40 to $50 for up to a half acre, but you might get a neighbor’s kid to do it for less. Of course, you can always spruce up the yard yourself.

• Your Personal Paint Palette

Paint over colors that reflect your taste but may put off potential buyers, such as a scarlet-red accent wall, a lemon-yellow child’s bedroom or a forest-green den. “Fun colors are for living, but neutral colors are for selling,” explains home stager Chrissie Sutherland, of Ready Set Stage, in Greensboro, N.C.

Avoid using stark-white paint, though. Choose a warm neutral color — beige, ivory, taupe or light gray — that makes your rooms look inviting, larger and brighter. Redo painted trim in white.

Cost to fix: A pro can prep and paint a 10-by 15-foot room with two coats of latex paint for anywhere from $400 to $927, according to www.homewyse.com.

• Popcorn-Finished Ceilings

Anyone who has lived with this outdated mode of room-top styling knows that it accumulates dirt, defies cleaning and is hard to paint. Worse, if your home was built prior to the mid-1980s, it may contain asbestos (it was banned in ceiling products in 1977, but existing supplies may have been used later).

If you have any concerns, have the ceiling sampled and tested for asbestos by a licensed inspector. For more information, check out the EPA’s Asbestos: Protect Your Family fact sheets. If the test result is positive, hire an asbestos abatement contractor who is federally or state trained and accredited (not the same company that tested the ceiling) to seal it with spray paint if it’s in good shape (not peeling or crumbling) and unlikely to be disturbed, or to remove the ceiling treatment and properly dispose of it — an expensive proposition.

Removal is usually a messy and laborious process, with or without asbestos. The material must be wetted down and scraped and the underlying wallboard wiped clean. Once the popcorn is gone, the ceiling often must be repaired with joint compound and repainted. Even if there’s no asbestos, you probably should hire a drywall or painting contractor for the job. (For a glimpse of the process, visit www.ronhazleton.com.)

Cost to fix: About $100 to $150 per sample to test for asbestos (multiple samples may be required), and if it’s present, about $2 to $6 per square foot to seal it or $54 to $64 per square foot for removal, according to www.fixr.com. If you can get by with a painter, expect to pay about $1 to $3

• Wall-to-Wall Carpeting

Buyers these days expect hardwood floors, even in starter homes. If carpet hides your home’s original hardwood floors, remove it, even if the wood isn’t in the best condition. Even if you don’t have hardwood, you may want to consider having it installed in a first-floor living area. If you must keep the carpeting, make sure it looks and smells its best by having it professionally cleaned, especially in high-traffic areas or if you have pets.

To find a cleaner certified by the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification, visit www.certifiedcleaners.org. Talk with your agent about the best strategy: whether to replace carpet or give buyers the option to choose what they want.

Cost to fix: A pro can clean 500 square feet of carpet for about $174 to $230, according to www.homewyse.com. The cost to refinish 500 square feet of hardwood flooring runs about $2,000, including labor, while the cost to install new hardwood runs from about $3,660 to $5,762. Pre-finished laminate flooring will cost somewhat less to install.

• Brass Fixtures

From switch plates to chandeliers, builder-grade, shiny yellow brass is out. Replace it with chrome- or satin-nickel-finish fixtures for a contemporary look, or an oil-rubbed bronze or black finish to update a traditional room. This is a pretty straightforward do-it-yourself job.

For instructions, watch these YouTube videos: How to Replace and Install a Chandelier from Build.com and Buildipedia DIY’s How to Replace a Light Fixture.

Cost to fix: You could buy two chandeliers (to put, say, over the kitchen and dining-room tables) and a few flush-mounted lights for $200 to $400 at a big-box store such as Lowe’s or Home Depot. After that, it’s DIY.

• Faux Crystal Faucet Handles

Acrylic knobs in the bathroom look cheap and can be hard to use by young, aged or soapy hands. Replace them with a faucet and handle set that matches the existing fixture’s configuration (centerset or widespread) and meets the standard of the Americans with Disabilities Act with flipper- or lever-style handles. Polished-chrome finish will cost you the least and still be durable. Plus, the National Kitchen & Bath Association says that the finish is enjoying a surge in popularity over brushed or satin finishes.

Cost to fix: You’ll pay at least $26 for a centerset faucet, plus $75 to $150 for a plumber’s minimum service charge (or twice that much or more if there’s corrosion or some other difficulty), according to www.costhelper.com. You can replace a tub-and-shower faucet set for about the same amount.

• Vanity Strips

Nothing says 1970s like a Hollywood-style strip of bare, round lights over your bathroom mirror. Replace it with a fixture that includes a shade for each bulb or a bath bar in a style and finish that complements your faucet set.

If you have a one-person mirror, you could replace the vanity strip with a wall sconce on either side of the mirror to achieve better lighting for shaving or applying make-up.

Cost to fix: A three-light fixture with shades runs $28 to $100 at www.lightingdirect.com. You should be able to handle this job yourself.

• Clutter and Dirt

Ugh. You want buyers to imagine living in your home, not to wonder “How can these people live like this?” when they come through the front door.

Pack up your tchotchkes and other non-essential stuff (store the boxes neatly in your garage or other storage area). Then thoroughly clean your house and be prepared to keep it that way until you move out.

If your house has unpleasant odors—say, from smoking or pets–that will turn off buyers, too. You may want to hire a specialist to help you (see www.iicrc.org).

Cost to fix: Nothing but the cost of cleaning supplies if you supply the elbow grease. For pro cleaning, you can expect to pay from $188 to $234 for a 2,000-square-foot house with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, or $269 to $335 for a 3,000-square-foot house with four bedrooms and three bathrooms, according to www.homewyse.com.

          By Pat Mertz Esswein, Associate Editor, Kiplinger