Easy Fixes that Home Sellers Always Seem to Miss

[Anonymous]

If you’re in the market to buy, what are some examples of easy fixes that would significantly improve the curb appeal or interior of a home, but for whatever reason are just completely ignored by home sellers?

I’ll start: Tree stumps in the front yard. Nothing looks worse when you’re walking up to the front door during an open house. Pay someone to grind that down! And then put down some grass seed. Easy.

[Anonymous]

Odors.

Front stoop with ragged mat and dead flowers.

Faded paint on front door.

Messy and or overgrown landscaping.

Overfilled garage, outdoor shed, closets.

[Anonymous]

We were in the market a couple years ago. A couple houses we saw were poorly maintained, hastily prepared for showing, you could tell they were counting on the market to sweep in and sell the house for them

Broken flagstones in backyard (pick them up! and replace them or put grass down!)

Loose bathroom fixtures

Hasty paint jobs that bled onto trim work, or missed the bottom edge of the wall (ugh! that's a pain in the a$$ for the new homeowner to have to put in 10-15K for interior painting just to fix what the homeowner 'tried' to do)

I live in a HOT market, houses selling in 24 hours. And those houses sat for months.

[Anonymous]

Take the screens off and clean the windows.

[Anonymous]

Deep clean - steam carpets, empty fridge, clean trashcans, clean windows (incl second floor), clean door and window tracks, overhead light fixtures. This is a ton of work.

Overgrown or poorly maintained gardens (dead stuff, weeds, old mulch) - seriously, just go to home depot and pop some new mulch in the garden

Clearly broken anything- tiles, fixtures, wobbly hardware in bathroom

Obvious touchup paint - especially a flag on the ceilings

Clutter - literally anything on any counter, and please for the love of God do not leave an old plunger next to the toilet unless you are leaving me a sellers credit to replace pipes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Deep clean - steam carpets, empty fridge, clean trashcans, clean windows (incl second floor), clean door and window tracks, overhead light fixtures. This is a ton of work.

Overgrown or poorly maintained gardens (dead stuff, weeds, old mulch) - seriously, just go to home depot and pop some new mulch in the garden

Clearly broken anything- tiles, fixtures, wobbly hardware in bathroom

Obvious touchup paint - especially a flag on the ceilings

Clutter - literally anything on any counter, and please for the love of God do not leave an old plunger next to the toilet unless you are leaving me a sellers credit to replace pipes

LOL! I would've never thought of that. DD clogs our toilets semiregularly because we use good TP, and she uses up like half a roll each time. The plunger is totally for her, and there are no other problems with pipes.

[Anonymous]

I think sellers can basically do whatever they want in this market but I'll play. Replace lightbulbs. Nothing worse than seeing a bathroom light fixture or a ceiling of recessed lights with half the bulbs burned out.

[Anonymous]

Drywall cracks.

Dust and cobwebs.

Broken stone or bricks in exterior.

Lack of power washing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deep clean - steam carpets, empty fridge, clean trashcans, clean windows (incl second floor), clean door and window tracks, overhead light fixtures. This is a ton of work.

Overgrown or poorly maintained gardens (dead stuff, weeds, old mulch) - seriously, just go to home depot and pop some new mulch in the garden

Clearly broken anything- tiles, fixtures, wobbly hardware in bathroom

Obvious touchup paint - especially a flag on the ceilings

Clutter - literally anything on any counter, and please for the love of God do not leave an old plunger next to the toilet unless you are leaving me a sellers credit to replace pipes

LOL! I would've never thought of that. DD clogs our toilets semiregularly because we use good TP, and she uses up like half a roll each time. The plunger is totally for her, and there are no other problems with pipes.

Dear god no my DD does the same thing, no matter how much I have told her to stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were in the market a couple years ago. A couple houses we saw were poorly maintained, hastily prepared for showing, you could tell they were counting on the market to sweep in and sell the house for them

Broken flagstones in backyard (pick them up! and replace them or put grass down!)

Loose bathroom fixtures

Hasty paint jobs that bled onto trim work, or missed the bottom edge of the wall (ugh! that's a pain in the a$$ for the new homeowner to have to put in 10-15K for interior painting just to fix what the homeowner 'tried' to do)

I live in a HOT market, houses selling in 24 hours. And those houses sat for months.

And I'm sure it did.

[Anonymous]

I notice dirty doors, grungy switch plates, and dated, dinged up doorknobs and hinges. Often in homes that have been given a cosmetic facelift and are otherwise well-staged.

A fresh coat of paint on interior doors and swapping out old, cheap brass tone door knobs and hinges and builder-grade switch plates is not a huge expense, comparatively (maybe 1k total) and it can give the home a whole new look.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I notice dirty doors, grungy switch plates, and dated, dinged up doorknobs and hinges. Often in homes that have been given a cosmetic facelift and are otherwise well-staged.

A fresh coat of paint on interior doors and swapping out old, cheap brass tone door knobs and hinges and builder-grade switch plates is not a huge expense, comparatively (maybe 1k total) and it can give the home a whole new look.

Switch plates for sure. I’d add outlets if they are really gross.

Stairs are often ignored. This is doubly important if you have a split and that the first thing a buyer sees. Make sure they are clean and touch up the molding.

[Anonymous]

Mange how your home smells, but not with perfume dispensers!

Homes with strong perfume dispensers like the Bath & Body Works variety were such a turn off. Immediate red flag that they might be covering up an odor and made being in the house unpleasant. There was no way they lived in the house with the perfume setting that strong all the time. It was nauseating.

If you have an odor problem, get an ozone treatment or at least just run a HEPA filter for awhile. If you were a prior smoker or pot smoker, definitely pay for the ozone treatment.

We passed over a couple homes that had strong perfume scents and one that was clearly owned by a pot smoker.

We ended up purchasing a home that had a minor dog/sweat smell in one basement room that was also a workout area. Didn't bother us and knew that we could just replace the carpet to address it.

[Anonymous]

Refinish orange floors!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Refinish orange floors!

I see what you did there.