And there are definitely people who are completely unable to see “diamonds in the rough”, because of all the shiny/sparkly graniteel’d houses on HGTV.
It amazes me when I see a buyer on Property Virgins or House Hunters that will say something like “House A had a great layout and price, but the appliances were white and the counters looked dated. House B was more expensive and had tiny little rooms – but that kitchen had stainless and granite”. And then they pick house B.
Along the same lines – the inability of buyers to see beyond staging (or lack of staging). It’s become required to stage homes – largely due to expectations from HGTV. 10 years ago I rarely heard about homes needing staging when listed. Cleaned and painted, yes… but not swapping out furniture, removing family photos, etc. When did buyers get so picky they wouldn’t buy a house if it had a family photo in it?
I would also add another symptom to HGTV syndrome: Failure to do the math. Again on Prop Virgins and HH – they have very low downpayments (10K on a 400k budget for example) and the realtor fails to point out that improvements typically aren’t financed. Very rarely is the discussion “you can improve and update over time as finances allow”. They look at the 400k budget – and assume they have 100% of it for the finished product. Not with that small of a cash reserve.
