Getting ready to sell your home means taking a look at what today’s buyer pool wants, overall, and trying to give it to them. Before just recently, that meant targeting Gen X and baby boomer families, and aiming for home features and fixtures that suited their taste. However, in late 2019, millennial homebuyers now represent almost half of all mortgages being approved. Whether that’s the sort of news that makes you cranky or not, there’s no denying that this generation has a voice, and they have certain preferences. A smart seller would do well to take note of these likes and dislikes, because there’s a high chance your prospective buyers will walk away from a home with which they don’t click.
Thoroughly Modern Kitchens
Here’s something millennial buyers hate: wood cabinets. This is unfortunate, because as recently as 10-15 years ago, gleaming oak cabinets were all the rage and every updated home had them installed. Today’s buyer prefers a sleeker look, with flat cabinet doors and clean lines throughout the kitchen space. If renovating your kitchen is not in the cards - and really, how many people could actually pull that off? - play to your youthful buyers’ interests by making other moderate adjustments in the kitchen. Maybe sanding and repainting the cabinets a neutral and welcoming shade like gray is a good compromise.
Doors, Jams
You’ve probably figured out by now that today’s buyers love open floor plans. It’s such a well-known fact that it’s virtually a meme by now. However, if you live in an older house with narrow hallways and plenty of walls, what are you supposed to do? You can’t go knocking walls down all willy-nilly. Just like the kitchen cabinets, there is only so far that you can realistically go in terms of prepping your house for sale. So, instead, make small changes that capitalize on the space you have. Create the illusion of space, for instance, by removing doors from unnecessary rooms (i.e.: not the bedrooms or bathrooms) and turning the space into an arched walkthrough. Clear any clutter - a basic staging rule of thumb - and focus on making your space look as airy and open as possible.
Regarding Specialty Rooms
When we (I speak as a millennial myself) were kids, our moms all longed for formal dining rooms, and having one in the house was a huge selling point. But here’s the thing: a lot of today’s buyers see a dedicated dining room as a waste of space that could be spent on living. The key to overcoming this obstacle is in staging. You may have what is technically a dining room, but staging it to look, for example, like an entertainment room or office space can show the versatility of your square footage.
