8 reasons why your house is unsellable

In addition to the absolute stinkers when it comes to selling a house, there are several trends on their way out that you may want to avoid:

McMansions
They may be big, but they aren’t clever. Think before investing in one of these: Do you really need all that space? An increasing number of people are deciding they don’t. Quality trumps quantity every time.

Separate living and dining rooms
When was the last time you sat down and had a meal in your dining room? If it was recently, you belong to a dying breed. People want to properly utilize all the space in their house, and in this pursuit, the dining room is casualty No. 1.

Small master baths
“Small” and “master” — they just don’t go, do they? How can you be king of your bathroom if your bathroom is the size of a queen-size bed?

Standard-size garage doors
Squeezing an SUV through old-style garage doors is like fitting a coconut into a pea pod. It isn’t happening. Though 7’x9’ used to be acceptable, nowadays you want to shoot for 8’x10.’

Football-size decks
Decks have been the must-have accessory for a good 10 years now, and demand shows no sign of slowing down. What has changed though, is the extent to which people want to replace garden with decking. A deck can take away as much as it can give to a garden, so before plumping for the largest deck imaginable, think about exactly what you’ll be using it for and weigh this against how much you and future owners would value the garden itself.

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