Unsellable Houses' Best Tips For Selling A Modest House

HGTV's hit series "Unsellable Houses" features twin sisters Leslie Davis and Lyndsay Lamb, who use both their experience as real estate consultants and their fresh design perspectives to help desperate homeowners finally sell their houses that have been stuck sitting on the market without any buyers. After they analyze the market and determine what the houses that they have been called upon to rescue are lacking, they make the necessary improvements and renovations that will help transform the tired home into a buyer's dream come true.

In the episode "Small House Save," Davis and Lamb are called to help a man named Marty with his two-bedroom and one-bathroom house that is just 850 square feet per Realtor –- far less than the national median of 2,273 square feet for a single-family home as reported by the United States Census Bureau. Having been on the market for over two months, the sisters conclude that Marty is unlikely to get the amount that he is asking for his house in its current state simply because of how small it is.

With a $40,000 budget, Davis and Lamb are charged with the task of transforming Marty's pint-sized pad into a perfect starter home for potential buyers, and they offer tips on how to help sell your own small house if you are in the same position.

Upon walking into Marty's rather unassuming family room, Davis and Lamb decide that it needs more personality and character if it is ever going to attract any attention from buyers, according to Realtor. They want to build a custom mantel but realize that a project of that size can't be worked into their budget. Instead of scrapping the idea altogether, the duo decides to turn a pair of bookshelves they found into built-in pieces and transform them to give them the illusion of being custom-built. Not only do built-ins create a focal point in the room, but they also help provide additional storage -– which is something most small homes are lacking.

A focal point can also be created with a creative paint job, which Lamb and Davis decide to do in one of the bedrooms of Marty's home by painting a mural. They explain that using paint to create a focal point in a room is always a good option because it's inexpensive, and it isn't a permanent change, which minimizes any risk if you decide to try it in your own home.

Marty's small and dated bathroom is also in need of revamping, but with a strict renovation budget, it can be nearly impossible to update every single thing that you feel like you need to. With this in mind, Lamb and Davis decide, per Realtor. not to completely replace all of the tile in Marty's dated bathroom and decide to replace the floor tile only while leaving the blush colored, '50s style tile on the walls since it is still in good shape. By leaving the '50s tile and pairing it with a modern black and white tile floor, instead of the blush color making the bathroom look drab and dated, it makes it look like an intentional, mid-century modern choice. If the tile you have is in good shape and holds up well, consider leaving it and updating other aspects of the room instead to make it look more modern.

A cramped kitchen also does not necessarily need to be completely renovated, as simply rearranging the appliances can help free up a lot of unused and wasted space. Because Marty's oven is in the corner of his very small kitchen, there is valuable, dead space behind it that was completely unusable. Lamb and Davis decide to rearrange the space to free up more room. By being intentional with the layout of your kitchen, you can help open it up and give it the feeling of being much more spacious than it actually is.