5 Red Flags That Immediately Turn Off Homebuyers
When you’re a prospective homebuyer, you have to juggle an overwhelming amount of decisions when choosing your perfect home. What are your must-haves? Your deal-breakers? What do you need in terms of square footage? Are there any fixes you absolutely refuse to do yourself or neighbor annoyances you desperately want to avoid?
The stakes are extremely high — overlooking certain details can make your new “dream” home become a money pit of unexpected maintenance, renovations, or other surprise expenses. It can also make it tough to make the sale yourself when you’re ready to put your home on the market.
Luckily, Redditors on the r/RealEstate subreddit compiled a list of things that turn buyers off from a potential home and make them decide to walk away from a sale — and some of them are so surprising, but actually make a ton of sense. In a thread shared by @baristeandie, the original poster asked the subreddit: “What kinds of things devalue property that seem harmless?”
Loud Pets
Many named loud pets — especially in neighboring homes — as a deterrent.
@Rough_Car4490 revealed that they’d had a prospective buyer back out of a deal because of a barking dog next door.
“Neighbor’s dog that runs up the fence and barks at people the second they step into the backyard,” they wrote. “Deal-breaker for more people than you might realize. I’ve had someone back out of a deal during the inspection period for this exact reason.”
Another user @we.are.all.doomed chimed in that their neighbor was having trouble selling their home because of this, calling it the “number-one negative from all their showings.”
Open-concept homes
Speaking of pets, homebuyers with pets and kids might be less inclined to purchase a home if too many walls have been knocked down.
@Rude_Butterscotch79 argued that despite its popularity, some people are turned off by an open concept. “News flash, when it comes to loud kids and husbands, or a puppy that isn’t potty-trained and doesn’t know boundaries, walls and doors are very handy,” they wrote.
@Roundaroundabout summed up the balance of open space to walls: “Open concept good, living in an airport hanger bad.”
Pools
Surprisingly enough, one amenity that might draw potential buyers can also turn them off. Not only did @Lucky7355 argue that having a pool can narrow your pool of buyers to a “fraction of what it would have been because you really need someone who wants a pool,” but others also called the feature a “deal-breaker” because of the extra costs that are associated with it.
@Travelingman802 wrote, “Where I live it’s cold most of the year, it raises the insurance costs, and it wastes electricity. I would probably just not even put in an offer.” Meanwhile, @RapidEyeMovement compared a pool to “another pet that I would have to take care of,” saying very few are “usable for actual swimming” or “aesthetically pleasing.”
Painted wood cabinets
While many people paint over their wood cabinets to make them look more on-trend and modern, several Redditors suggested leaving the wood alone and instead trying staining as they’re “coming back in style,” according to @CO_livn.
@Eagle_Fang135 argued that a poor DIY job can be worse than not renovating at all, writing about their experience touring a home where the “‘makeover’ was worse than the regular home. “They did a crappy paint job over what was nice kitchen cabinets,” they wrote.
Bad smells
Numerous Redditors said a stench was a deal-breaker, with some saying “they’d walk out right away” if they noticed a bad odor. Even if the house has a big discount, many people said that “a lot of times smells are harder to get rid of than people imagine.”
@Annonymous100 wrote about their experience, “I purchased a flipped smoker house that had all new flooring/paint. I ran an Ozone generator. I replaced the (ductless) AC and appliances. I tried artificial scents. It still has that mild sickly sweet old smoker house smell a year later.”
Meanwhile, @BeeFree66 said that they had to wait a year before they could move in a house to remove baseboards, cabinets, carpeting, popcorn ceiling, and padding to get rid of the stink of “cigarettes and taxidermy chemicals.”
Other surprising deal-breakers that people commonly cited included not having a tub (“a need to have for people between kids/grandkids and pets,” according to @Eagle_Fang135), too much clutter, and having too many “overly personal design choices,” which @JoshWestNOLA said could make make it “hard for people to envision themselves living there. Or merely make them think of the hassle and expense of painting.”
@NorCalrain3 said their coworker’s interesting decorating gave them the “ick factor.”
“I looked at her Zillow and there is ‘skull decor’ in many rooms. It’s a small modest house. It leaves me with an ick factor ( not my taste ), but I feel like subconsciously she’s going to lose some potential buyers,” they wrote. “I’m not sure why her Realtor didn’t straight up tell her to box those things up.”
Further Reading
I Tried the 90/90 Rule and My Closet Is Now Fully Decluttered
I Just Discovered the Smartest Way to Store Paper Towels in Your Kitchen (It’s a Game-Changer!)
