Tag: home improvements

What Buyers Want In A Home

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Most buyers looking for a home seek specific features. The following summary is what buyers want, and this may help prioritize your home improvements to attract those buyers.

Structural Features

  • Separate laundry room on the first floor
  • Open floor plan between the kitchen and dining room 
  • Patio space for outdoor entertaining
  • Walk in kitchen pantry
  • A front porch or covered outdoor space

Accent Preferences

  • Exterior lighting
  • Ceiling fans
  • Hardwood or tile in main living areas
  • Stainless steel appliances
  • Smart home technology

Energy Elements

  • Energy-efficient windows
  • Programmable thermostats
  • Proper insulation

Contact a Mel Foster Co. agent if you’re ready to sell.

Three Ways to Make your Home Appeal to Millennials

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What we look for in a home.

It can be difficult to appeal to millennial homebuyers’ tastes, but recent polling has provided some insight into what they’re searching for in their first home.

  1. Leave Room for Improvement

Many millennials are looking for a fixer-upper for their first home due to their limited budgets. HGTV has made remodeling more accessible than ever, and millennials want to renovate their houses into their own dream homes. In 2017 first-time homebuyers spent an average of $33,800 on home renovations.

  1. Have a Separate Laundry Room

Millennials are willing to sacrifice comfort for extra square footage dedicated to a laundry room. Every year surveys taken on millennials’ buying choices point toward this trend. It’s a small change that can make your home significantly more attractive to this group of buyers.

  1. Be Environmentally Friendly

Offer a house that includes green features. Millennials look for LED lighting, double paned windows or even solar panels. You don’t have to make a major investment, but even updated, energy-efficient appliances will attract buyers. It’s not only trendy and good for the planet, but will also save money in the long run.

Want more expert advice on how to market your home to the most buyers? Ask a Mel Foster Co. agent.

 

What’s hiding behind those walls?

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A well-staged house might be hiding a dirty little secret. Black mold. Fire damage. Shoddy home improvements. Pet stains below the carpet. You can’t always tell the true condition of a home just by walking through, but it’s hard to hide damage from a home inspector.

If you are buying a home, getting a home inspection is one of the single-most important “checks” you need to conduct to make sure the home is safe and secure. An inspection can be several hundred dollars, but uncovering what lies within before you own the house has several advantages.

  1. Peace of mind – you’ll know moving in the actual condition of your new home.
  2. Negotiation tool – if there are issues that need to be corrected, you can lower your offer price or ask the seller to fix the problems prior to closing.
  3. Easy out – if the inspection reveals issues that are too big or unsettling, you can opt out of buying the house.
  4. Plan for the future – the inspection may reveal minor updates that don’t pose safety issues that you may be able to address down the road.

The inspector will take several hours to fully inspect a home. You may be able to be in the home while the inspector works. If not, you should receive a detailed report that includes plumbing, electrical, mechanical and roof analyses. You inspector can usually tell you how many years you can wait before replacing a roof or major appliances or mechanicals including hot water heater and air conditioning unit. You might also be required to have a termite inspection.

Purchasing a home is one of the biggest financial investments you’ll make. Take the extra step to have an inspection and protect yourself from moving into a money pit.


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