Unprofessional advice to home sellers from an unprofessional home buyer with a very, very particular (possibly OCD) husband

1. Do not tell me your house is the greatest let the house speak for itself - its more convincing
2. If your house is on the market – CLEAN IT!!!
3. Don’t show your house when the basement smells like weed
4. A little vacuuming goes a long way
5. I know you like to be individualistic but bold/bright blues, purples, and oranges are not pleasing colors for kitchens, living rooms and master bedrooms. When I see it I put it on my mental list of something I have to do right away when I move in – in other words it’s a turn off.
6. Crown moulding can make a room go from ordinary to extraordinary.
7. When your house sits on a quarter acre of weeds, dirt, and just plain grossness more acreage is not a selling point. It just means more work labor/time/money to make it enjoyable. Here is the point – when your lot is not pretty don’t call attention to the size!
8. Get your carpets professionally cleaned before it is on the market. I can’t believe how many houses we walk through with stained carpet – it’s hard to look at the beauty of your home when your carpet stains are yelling at us (think of the Tide commercial of the guy in a job interview with a stain on his shirt).
9. I am very particular about the neighborhood, with that said, you could have the most incredible home at a great price but if your neighbors are trashy forget it AND the price is too much. This happened to use two weekends ago – we found a beautiful home the interior/exterior was everything I wanted, but when we drove by, oh the horror of the neighbors! The one neighbor had old rusty cars parked on the lawn, the side of the house was filled with old cars, trailers, bicycles, trash cans etc. There was no grass in the front yard it was dirt. Oh how I wish I had a camera to capture it.
10. Unclutter your home, clutter gives you a disadvantage. The house seems smaller, less pretty, and less clean.

Anyway, this is just some advice/venting. Maybe reading this will make you realize we are the reason we haven’t bought a home yet. But I don’t think we are that demanding (well not me anyway – if Brad was giving the advice I’m sure it would be 4 times longer).