5 Things Home Sellers Don't Want to Hear

Lets face it.  Reality can be a hard pill to swallow.  Constructive criticism, no matter how well meaning can be tough to bear.  Here are a few things that many sellers, despite their agents being good intended, just don't want to hear . . . but they must be said.

1. Your home stinks.

Ok, so maybe it wouldn't be said quite like that, but if you have a stinky home, unless the buyer is "nose blind", it is going to be a major turn off for buyers.  Things that stink: pets, smoking, dirty laundry, etc.  I know you love Fluffy-but, please put her outside.  For some homes, no amount of open windows, scented candles and Febreze can help.  As a matter of fact, even too much scented candles and Febreze can be a culprit as well.  This smelly problem boils down to one thing.  Less money.  So, unless you want to list your home for less, attempt to improve its nose appeal.

2. Your home needs a good cleaning.

I will admit, I'm not the best house keeper.  Between work, volunteering and children, my house looks like a bomb went off most of the time.  My house however, is not for sale.  If it were, many things would change.  I'm not here to judge your house keeping skills. But, what one person thinks is clean is not what someone else thinks is clean.  Make sure, when listing your home, you wander out to open houses, perhaps discuss with your agent what is expected by the buyers in the market.  Again, a dirty home leads to less offers and less money.

3.  Your home is overpriced.

It is normal to think your home is the best out there.  After all, its where you have lived/raised kids/fixed up(insert memory here), however, potential buyers don't see these memories or improvements.  They can only see the finished product and if this product is priced higher than the comparable homes in the neighborhood-they aren't going to bite.  No seller wants to hear that their home isn't worth as much as they think it is, but keeping your expectations realistic will not only save you time but actually bring in more money in the long run.

4. The inspector found (insert scary thing here).

It's inevitable.  Your home has a problem.  It could be termites, it could be a leaky pipe.  What ever it is,  inspections will probably find it.  No one wants their home to have a defect, especially a large one, but this is life and things come up.  To avoid being blindsided by a huge request for repairs, I always recommend inspections prior to purchase.  This avoids all sorts of surprises and can help the seller and the buyer negotiate easier.  But as a seller, sticking your head in the sand to avoid a problem isn't going to help. So, face your fears and make sure that you take a good, unbiased look at your home.

5. The buyer is cancelling escrow/walking away.

This is a bummer.  When a buyer exercises their right to walk away from a transaction during the contingency period, it can be tough.  We have a tendency to just assume the home is "sold" in our head, that once an offer is accepted, the deal is done.  However, the reality is that our contracts usually allow buyers to review the property during the contingency period and walk away from the transaction should they discover something they don't like.  It is their right. There are always more buyers out there.  This doesn't make the cancellation any easier, however.  As a seller, you can feel betrayed, upset and disappointed.  While there are a few things you can do as a seller to try and avoid this, getting an inspection ahead of time for instance, sometimes it's unavoidable. I always tell my sellers to disclose EVERYTHING they know.  Whether or not it's horrible or might scare someone away.  I would rather have a buyer run screaming from the building while reviewing disclosures than come back after the close and threaten litigation because they found something the seller clearly knew about but didn't disclose!  Cancellations are not fun, but sometimes you have to get rid of something in your way, to be able to accept something better.  

Navigating the turbulent seas of real estate isn't easy, you shouldn't sail it alone.  Always find a good captain to help you get to your destination.  A good captain will have the skills and know how to help you avoid and traverse the storms that occur during an escrow transaction.  And always make sure to keep your eyes and ears open.  While your captain may give you news or directions you don't want to hear, they are doing so to help you on your journey.