Looking Past the Pizazz of Home Interior/Exterior Design
Looking Past the Pizazz of Home Interior/Exterior Design
When there is a surplus of available homes for sale it means that private sellers have to work even harder to close a deal. Central to the success of selling a home you live in is making it look as enticingly livable as possible. To do this, folks often go to great lengths to decorate and stylize the interior and exterior of their homes.
While there is nothing wrong with adding a little sheen to your product, buyers need to have the ability to look past the pathways lit by Chinese lanterns and the kitchen that smells of freshly baked bread when looking at a lived-in home for sale. Below are several tips to help you look past the pizazz of home interior/exterior design.
Masking Home Smells
Many sellers will intentionally bake bread or cookies prior to their home being looked at in order to mask a lingering odor of cigarettes or pets. As far as a deodorizer, it’s far less obvious a masker than candles or aerosol air fresheners. In addition, such odors are often used to make buyers feel more at home, as well as invoke imaginings of themselves cooking in that same kitchen. Not to mention a plate of freshly baked cookies for prospective buyers is always a nice touch.
Finding Hidden Home Damage
If you see a chair or end table that is conspicuously positioned relative to the rest of the furniture, you may want to peek underneath to see if there’s a stain or scratch being concealed on the floor. If a rug looks particular new, don’t hesitate to flip it over to inspect for damage underneath. It might seem a bit uncouth, but this is your potential new home we’re talking about here. Besides, being aware of such unmentioned damage can help you negotiate for a lower price.
It’s important you check every door and window for full function. Many sellers will leave doors open and the windows as well on warm days. You can easily walk around the entirety of the property without checking whether one door works let alone them all. Of all the things to easily miss thanks to the careful setup of a calculating seller, the quality of doors and windows is something you can’t afford to skip.
Checking the Exterior of Homes
But don’t restrict your probing eyes to just the interior of the home for sale. That beautiful new coat of paint may actually be keeping you from noticing the crumbling state of a front porch support beam. A backyard wading pool could be covering a dead patch of grass. The shade mixed with strung-up lights may make the backyard walk look beautiful during summer evenings, but will all that foliage add up to big pains come autumn?
Remember, when there are a large amount of available homes on the market means that sellers are more likely to do whatever it takes to add “sold” to their yard sign. But the seemingly countless options and great deals also mean that buyers can take their time. Inspect prospective properties accordingly by looking past the pizazz, and you are sure to pick the best home for your needs.
