7 Features That Date Your Home & How To Update Them Fast

When preparing to sell your home, you want it to stand out from the rest. What out-of-date features could prevent your home from selling faster?

With real estate booming, you'll want to do everything that you can in order to woo potential buyers. This is no easy task, but a great starting point involves identifying those things that instantly date your home. By tackling the yesteryear characteristics of your home, you'll amp up your competitive edge and draw more interest.

Here are 7 features that date your home and tips on how to improve them:

Wacky Bathroom Colors

It's unlikely that you will find pink toilets making a come back anytime soon. They instantly give your home an outdated vibe. You're better off leaving the colorful bathroom at your Grandma's house. If your bathroom is sporting too many colors, consider replacing what you can in crisp white. Paint the walls a warm neutral tone and add soft white towels, as well as a solid subdued shower curtain. Designer Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz suggests, “ For a clean, modern look, paint all surfaces with white epoxy paint to make everything one color. “That way,” he says, “you can make the room's story be about textures. Do the accessories all in white as well.”

Wood Paneling

No matter how lovely the home, a room covered in wood paneling takes the buyer on a time-warp back to the 70's. Not only does wood paneling date the home, it also makes the room look smaller, which can give potential buyers a negative impression from the start. Andrew Leahay of Design Media shares some removal advice, “Removing wood paneling is not a particularly difficult job in and of itself. Removing the paneling and not damaging it, or removing the paneling and replacing it with drywall, can be a more difficult task. Having a good sense of what is behind your paneled walls will dictate the amount of work involved in the project.” If tearing the wood paneling off the wall is not an option, a fresh coat of paint will help give your home a more modern appeal. Elizabeth Weintraub, a Home Buying/Selling Expert suggests, “ Even if your wood paneling is not real wood but composite, you can paint it. Dated paneling must go. Older wood paneling such as walnut, mahogany, cedar and pine, it's all gone out of style. Paint it a neutral and soft color after priming it.”

Ugly Carpet

Walking into a home with nasty old carpet is a huge turn-off for potential buyers. Nothing is quite as distracting as an ugly pattern, scary shag, or mystery stained rug. If the carpet has to stay, you should have it professionally deep cleaned. Hardwood flooring certainly offers a cleaner more updated look, and according to HGTV, it is the top desired request among renters and buyers when searching for a new home. Buyers also tend to prefer hardwood as it cuts down on the allergy inducing problems associated with old carpet. With that in mind, it might be worth the extra expense to ensure a faster, more rewarding sale.

Gold-plated fixtures

Brassy, flashy, gold-plated fixtures had their hay day and now they tend to give an outdated first impression. If you are unable to stretch your budget too far, consider spray painting your fixtures. When done right, you will have a high-end looking durable solution without having to replace each piece. This will save you money and amp up the appeal of your home to potential buyers instantly. Ashley a creative and self proclaimed DIY enthusiast will show you how with these easy steps: 
Home Improvements—Painting Old Chandeliers and Light Fixtures.

Hideous Walls

Sponge painting, fancy wallpaper, and hand painted murals might hold special meaning for you and your family, but they are more likely to scare potential buyers away. Busy walls are not only distracting, but they can close a room in making it appear smaller and darker. Beth Jaworski shares her Realtor insight by suggesting, “Buyers just do not like wallpaper. It's so personalized. If you go into a wallpaper store, there are thousands of patterns. Why is that? It's because people are very particular.” Neutralize your walls, by pulling down that busy wallpaper or painting over any flashy colors with a soft subdued tone.

Countertops

Old countertops can be a deterring factor for potential buyers. Retro tiles, dirty grout, and cracked laminate just make a house look old. Don't be overwhelmed though, if replacing your countertops is not within the budget, there are still things you can do to help update the look of your home. There are many different approaches you can take when updating your counters, but it depends greatly on how much you want to invest and what look you are trying to achieve. Rose Kennedy of HGTV, offers these tips for painting over your laminate countertops.

Popcorn Ceiling

Not only because of asbestos, but popcorn ceilings in general remind us of days gone by. Potential buyers prefer a ceiling that does not resemble cottage cheese. According to Armstrong.com, “Removing a popcorn ceiling is a messy, time-consuming job—and in most cases, it's not necessary because you can easily cover up that unsightly texture with ceiling panels of planks. They install directly over your existing popcorn ceiling in a few easy steps that you can do yourself using common household tools. In as little as a weekend, you can hide that ugly ceiling and enjoy a decorative ceiling style that will completely change the look of your room.” However, you should consider having your ceiling tested for asbestos, as this could be the motivation you need to have it permanently removed.

It might be overwhelming to think of trying to fix all of the retro quirks in your home at once, but by starting with just a few of these, you'll save yourself the disappointment of having your home passed over due to it's awkward retro quirks.