Like good coffee, when people are looking to buy a property they want a good spot and a decent price. You can have the best coffee in the world, but if you’re selling it out of a van for 25% more than the expected price, nobody’s going to want to buy it. 2017 was clearly a hot year in real estate, with the median house price in Melbourne jumping by around $350,000 and Sydney’s hit $530,000. As well as location and price, there are several other factors that home buyers are looking for, so if you’re selling your home, it’s important to know what some of these features are.
Flooring
A fully-carpeted house is no longer seen as a luxury or desirable style choice. Carpets are harder to clean and shows the wear and tear of its years. Hardwood floors are the most desirable option and have a classic look, also allowing people more freedom when interior decorating. Tiles are also popular, although they are generally seen as colder and somewhat harsher than hardwood floors. Carpets can be great in a bedroom, but should generally be limited to that space.
Open Floor Plans
Hardwood floors work especially well in an open floor setting allowing the eye to follow the wood flooring throughout the house. Open plans make your living area more accessible by combining the kitchen, lounge and dining areas. We all spend a lot of time in the kitchen preparing meals, and by opening it up to the rest of the house the kitchen can become the heart of the home where family can chat and gather in a large open space.
It makes big gatherings like Christmas that much more enjoyable and inclusive. The main living area is a key space that you need to make as inviting as possible to home buyers and its generally worth seeking an expert in house staging in Melbourne to lift your property to its full market potential.
Modern, Practical Kitchens
If a kitchen is the heart of the home where family connects, then home buyers are going to be scrutinizing the kitchen and trying to imagine themselves spending so much time in that space. People want modern, clean kitchens with lots of aesthetically pleasing countertop space for food preparation, and/or a kitchen island. Granite, marble, quartz or hardwood countertops are leading the trends with many people enjoying a rustic, country feel to their kitchen space that emulates the push for good, organic foods.
Self-contained Guest Rooms
This isn’t on everyone’s radar, but a lot of people are looking for properties with decent spare guest rooms with en-suites and even kitchenettes. This is for a number of reasons; to accommodate friends and family, for parents and grandparents to stay long-term, or to offer a space that can be rented out via Airbnb or other online property marketplace sites.
Outdoor Living
The Great Australian Dream is to own a decent home where you can have BBQs in the summertime and a swim in the pool if you’re lucky enough to have one. For this reason, having useable outdoor living spaces is a must for most home-buyers. An enclosed or open patio or veranda is a must for most people in the market with French-doors or glass sliding doors that make the outdoor living space open and accessible.
Home buyers usually have a long list of key features in mind when they go out house hunting and are generally more or less flexible with most of them, but will have a top 5 things that a property must have if they are going to put in an offer. All of the above are generally on the must-have list so if you’re preparing to sell, it’s worth your while to takes these into account and see what you can highlight as selling points of your property.
Are you planning to sell your home this year?
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