How To Sell A Home With “Bad” Features: Irregular Layout, West Sun-facing, Near Cemetery

Whether you’re a real estate agent or a homeowner, chances are you came across this article because you’re looking for solutions on how to sell a home with an unfavourable feature. Homes with beautifully designed kitchens, mint-condition furnishings, and fresh conditions will receive countless views and sell within weeks, sometimes even within a day, but what about those with a “disadvantage”? Or you, know, what we can say is an acquired taste.

Whatever your home’s perceived disadvantage may be, we’ve made a list to give you a few ideas on how you can work the situation in your favour.

If your unit faces the west sun

West sun-facing units typically get the full blast of the afternoon sun as it sets in the West. This is especially unfavourable if it’s a heavily used room like the living room, master bedroom, or kitchen. However, you can work this to your favour by wording your listing such that it appeals to avid gardeners, families with large laundry loads, or you can tout an amazing sunset view. 

If it is the kitchen, service yard, or balcony that faces the West, it can also be a win for buyers who prefer to sun their laundry instead of using a dryer as the direct sunlight will speed up their laundry drying process by leaps and bounds. 

If your unit faces the rubbish chute

New flats these days have a communal rubbish chute at each level so residents can avoid problems like cockroaches and other pests crawling up the chute and into their homes. While it is more hygienic, this also means at least one or two units will be located nearer to the chute, or even directly face it. 

If this is your unit, sell the convenience of having the chute close at hand so they don’t have to drag their trash bags across a long corridor just to dispose of it. It is also highly unlikely for pests to be crawling into the home from the chute as long as the town council does a decent job of keeping the chute area clean. 

If your unit has an irregular layout

This used to be an obstacle for home design, given that an irregular layout is not as easy to fit out as a simple squarish floor plan. However, don’t underestimate the creativity of designers these days. An irregular layout may actually be an opportunity for some cool built-in furniture to maximise the potential of an awkward corner, which can be transformed into a walk-in wardrobe, shelving unit, or hallway closet, depending on its location.

You should however take note to keep your home minimalist and declutter ruthlessly before a viewing, so your space looks open, roomy, and pleasing to the eye. This also helps your buyer to better visualise how they may renovate the place to suit their own needs.

If your unit faces the corridor

While we all get the allure of a corner unit, as well as the rarity, given there are only about a couple of them per level of a HDB block, homeowners with units facing the corridor shouldn’t stress out too much. While corridor-facing units may take longer to sell, they have their own demand. Parents with young children may appreciate the idea of having a kids’ bedroom or playroom with windows that open out to a corridor instead of airspace, for obvious safety reasons. Those with elderly folk in the home may also prefer a corridor unit that is nearer to the lift than its counterpart nestled in the far corner.

Play up the selling points of your home so buyers don’t focus on the fact that it faces the corridor. Unless you are looking for a buyer who is very specifically looking for a corner unit, chances are, most buyers will overlook this fact if your home has some great selling points, and if the market is in your favour.

If your block is near a cemetery/mausoleum

While it may seem overly optimistic to hope for a buyer who wants to be near their dearly departed, or who appreciates the proximity to their ancestral final resting place, you probably don’t have to worry too much about not being able to sell in space-scarce Singapore. 

Promote the tranquillity of the surroundings, the potential of major government developments coming up in the area, and what new exciting projects the government may have planned for this “up and coming” area. If Bidadari, once the largest grave site in Singapore, could break free from its “chequered past” to become one of the hottest new estates to live in, your property could achieve the same. 

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