Aqua Net and VHS tapes could signal ‘old house needs repair, too’
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As a prospective home seller, you are undoubtedly aware of the normal steps the most successful sellers take to get their house ready for the market.
Things like cleaning, decluttering and de-personalizing tend to be the basics, with upgrades and improvements close behind, time and budget-willing.
Another step you might want to take is to remove some of the less than desirable “signaling” in your house.
For instance, if you have an extensive collection of VHS tapes in a large hutch in your family room, you may want to pack those up and decide if you’re going to keep them or give them away. Having a collection of VHS tapes might be a signal to potential buyers, both in online photos and during in-person showings, that your house is dated.
If you’re stuck using decades-old movie technology, you’re signaling to the world there might be other things that are decades old with your actual house, and this might cause buyers to be concerned.
Also, take a look at the products distributed around your house.
In the kitchen, if you have an aging container of Morton’s Salt, faded blue with the paper peeling off in spots, you might want to tuck it away in a cabinet. Or if you keep your large mason jar of bacon grease next to the stove, you may want to either trash it or put a cap on it and hide it, perhaps next to that sad Morton’s salt.
If you use the space between the refrigerator and the wall in the kitchen to store your shopping bags, you may want to re-position these, too.
In the bathroom, a can of Aqua Net hairspray sitting out on the counter just says “hey, I’m old.”
Please understand, I am not knocking Aqua Net or Morton’s Salt, rather merely suggesting these products might send a signal that you’re behind the times, which could lead some buyers to conclude your house and perhaps its maintenance is also behind the times.
Even if grandma’s hair looks stunning, please put the Aqua Net in a cabinet for listing photos and eventual home tours.
The point here is that you want to signal that you are as up-to-date and relevant as possible in all areas of your house. And these apparently small details, that you see every single day, may send a very loud signal to buyers.
My advice to you here is to avoid “bad” signaling by either packing up or hiding away these items and even replacing them with bright, shiny, new, hip and more relevant replacements.
Leslie Sargent Eskildsen is an agent with RealtyOne Group West and a member of the California Association of Realtors’ board of directors. She can be reached at 949-678-3373 or leslie@leslieeskildsen.com.
