What's out with Homebuyers 2007 : Rooftop Views

Rooftop Views

What's out with Homebuyers 2007

Nationally syndicated real estate columnist and real estate broker, Mark Nash, compiled this list of things that are "OUT" with buyers this year:

"As is" in home sale marketing. Anything went in the boom market, but if you're planning to use "as is" in 2007, forget it. The two letter-two word kiss of death, buyers see it as a red flag about the home and you the seller. You have too much competition to be chasing buyers away.
Buyer incentives. Free cars don't sell houses, realistic pricing does. Gimmicks only confuse and distract buyers. Cut to the chase and deduct the cost of your free-with-purchase from your current price and send the signal to buyers that you're selling real property not personal property.
Endless Open Houses. The open house pendulum has swung from " the house sold in the first day" to "we need to have our house open every Sunday". Desperation is when your home is open every Sunday. Buyers know and track it. Plan on every three weeks to have a public open house.
Over-full-price offers. It was a strategy in the boom market to under-price a home and let the market set the selling price. Not today, one thing that won't change in 2007 is that every buyer will want a deal, and walk from one if they don't get one.
Bedrooms not large enough for a bed. In the boom, rehabbers and developers learned the fastest way to profit was to increase the room count of a home of an existing home. Bedrooms shrunk to walk-in closet size when a four-room one-bedroom was gut-rehabbed into a four-room two-bedroom. Or, the doorways and windows eliminate required wall space. Savvy agents kept asking, can you fit a queen-size bed in either room? And the answer was usually, no.
Loads of glass upper kitchen cabinet doors. Buyers say it looks great, but many who specified and experienced it, firsthand don't have the time to keep their kitchen cabinets organized. Plus if you hate washing the windows, having more glass in a greasy room like a kitchen is high-maintenance.
Bowl-shaped above-counter bathroom sinks. The splashing and over-all up-keep have earned these the reputation of nice to look at, but don't want one.
Any shiny metal finish. Brushed nickels and pewter's are in and antiqued and polished brass is out.
Stainless-steel refrigerators and dishwashers are a fading trend. The cold look and higher maintenance of steel is shifting buyers to specify warmer colors in kitchen appliances.
Spiral staircases. Once the rage for mid-seventies make over's, now death to a home seller. The boomers have aged, their kids don't like them, unfriendly to pets and young children. Take yours out and put in a standard staircase (inside or out) before you sell.

On the way out.

Bamboo floors. The first reviews are in on this popular eco-friendly flooring, and they're not pretty. Easily dented and scratched, and prone to warping from variations in our climate and humidity levels.
Hardwood laminate floors. The word is out that these noisy poor relatives of solid hardwood that don't stand up to multiple sanding's to change color or to remove stains.
Home sellers who smoke in their home while it is being marketed. Buyers hate second-hand and stale smoke odors. Marketing your home is not the same as living in it. If you have to smoke go outside.