Selling property – as well as showing it to prospective tenants – can be a tricky business, but you can make it easier by avoiding these common mistakes…
With huge sums of money being handed over in any property purchase, buyers have a right to be slightly fussy when they’re looking around a potential new home or property investment, and the same can be said for renters looking for their next pad.
New research conducted by GoCompare into what buyers find the most off-putting features in any home has revealed that damp – or more specifically, damp stains on walls and ceilings – was the number one turn-off with 69% of people saying they’d think twice about investing in any home that had this lurking within.
While it is unsightly, damp can also be costly and difficult to resolve, particularly in older homes if they are badly insulated and single-glazed, which is probably why most people would walk away. As a prospective tenant, the idea of living in a home which might be prone to damp isn’t an attractive one, which is why any landlord or investor with damp problems in their property would find it easier to let it in the long run by resolving this issue.
Bad smells such as food, pets or cigarette smoke were next on the list for 63% of respondents despite this being a relatively easy to fix problem depending on the cause and extent, while a home in a poor state of repair with rotten window frames and peeling paintwork was a no-no for 59% of people.
Here’s the full breakdown of the top 20 things that put people off buying a property:
- Damp stains on walls and ceilings – 69%
- Bad smells (e.g. damp, food, cigarettes, pets, etc.) – 63%
- Property in poor state of repair (rotten window frames, peeling paintwork, etc.) – 59%
- No parking – 56%
- Broadband blackspot – 53%
- Unfinished building work – 53%
- No garden – 52%
- Property not connected to mains gas – 51%
- Rubbish strewn in neighbouring gardens – 48%
- A dirty house – 46%
- Outdated electricals/wiring – 46%
- Poor natural light/dark rooms – 43%
- Dilapidated neighbouring property – 43%
- Proximity to major road or motorway – 43%
- Small room sizes – 40%
- Small kitchen – 39%
- Bad DIY – 38%
- Student let next door – 37%
- Old boiler or central heating system – 37%
- Stone cladding, render or pebble dash on exterior walls – 31%
