Living room nightmares that don't sell homes

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Published Date 2/15/2019

When you walk into a model home you instantly become aware of specially arranged colors, textures, surfaces, and the smell of fresh lumber. But what happens when you walk into a home with experience? What do you see/smell/touch that makes you either want to venture further or turn tail and head for the car?

Apart from kitchens, it’s really living areas that help people envision their lives in a home. These are places to decompress, converse, and/or become entertained — a place that takes them away from the worries of work or drudgery. If you are about to list your house for sale, then, it’s wise to step outside, walk through your own front door and try to experience what potential buyers would experience the moment they enter.

In a Realtor.com article, real estate experts were asked about the biggest deal breakers they’ve encountered in a living room. Here is what they weighed in on.

No one likes dead bugs, whether they’re in mass graves in corners, populate window sills or have been laid to rest in your entertainment center shelves. An insect graveyard is an instant turnoff. Make sure every corner of your living room is pest-free before you show it off.

Just because you are crazy about Precious Moments figurines doesn’t mean everyone else is. Realtors have seen it all — pet rock collections, Star Wars-themed living rooms, sad clown paintings, endless brass nautical chotchkies, Victorian doll populations, and antique guns — all gracing shelves or hung on pegs on living room walls. Now is the time to box them up. They’re distracting, and they will never have the appeal to buyers you think they will. The likelihood of someone else falling in love with them is like expecting a clone of yourself to walk in.

“Anything too thematic should be removed from your living room,” said one Realtor. “Keep in mind, the more obscure the collection, the creepier it is.” One Realtor encountered a collection of cowhide and animal skulls.

More common are displays of endless pet paraphernalia (making the room look like an animal shelter or pet store) and abundant displays of family photos on walls and covering end tables and shelves. A few scattered photos are considered good decorating. An army of them takes a buyer’s attention away from the room’s floor-to-cling windows and gleaming hardwood floors. They can even make them think dead relatives will never leave the house.

Just —if not more — distracting are odors. “One time I brought a buyer to a listing and the owner's tenant was cooking hot dogs on a Foreman grill,” said one Realtor. “It was an open layout, meaning the kitchen had no wall between itself and the living room. The hot dog became more memorable than the apartment.”

Cigarette and cigar odors can be deal breakers as well. Anyone would tell you that. But don’t discount TOO MUCH fragrance, either. Bowls full of fresh potpourri and devices that magically spritz aromas into the air can be just as noxious to some buyers.

Pet odors? Homeowners often become immune to them. So ask a third party to enter your home and tell you what they detect in the air even if you can’t.

The best scent, then? “The smell of nothing,” says another real estate expert. “It clearly communicates that the house is clean and stink-free.”

Speaking of pets, it’s easy to have lived with your golden retriever’s fur all over your living room couch, but buyers won’t be as loving about it. They’ll picture themselves sucking up dog fur for the next five years. Worse yet, they’ll associate it allergies and — fleas!

One Realtor recalls a client who was wearing dark pants and had not seen fleas on him until he got into her car. They were jumping all over the place,” she recalls, resulting in her having to flea-bomb her car. Of course, that is the last home they considered making an offer on.

Ever notice when you walk through a model home how there are never any window coverings? Take a good look. Plenty of gorgeous treatments around the windows, but not a single shutter, blind or drape covering the window itself. That’s because light is one of the most important factors showing off a home’s interior.

Just because you hate the fact that your living room window faces the street doesn’t mean you should block the view as well as the light it provides. Buyers hate gloom, and they want to know what they’re buying. They think you’re trying to hide something you don't want them to see. In bedrooms and bathrooms, it may be the wall of the house next door. Just know the light is more important to many buyers than the view.

One home stager recalls how a seller insisted on leaving her sheer draperies intact after being told to take them down. Her house sat on the market for a few weeks, and she complained that his staging wasn't working. Then he persuaded her to take down the draperies for just one open house.

“Funny enough, she had three offers by the end of it and the property sold for over asking,” he recalls. “Light. Sells. Spaces.”

Source: Realtor, TBWS

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