By Charlene Storozuk, Dezigner Digz
Last year I wrote an article about giving purpose to every inch of usable space. Not only is that important, but it’s also key that these bonus areas help make your listing memorable.
BEFORE
Here is the before photo of an open area in the master bedroom of a small townhouse we recently staged. As you’ll see, the home owners were using this area of the master bedroom as a mini-gym. There’s nothing wrong with that when you are living in the home. In fact, I thought it was a really good use of the space as it served their needs — they didn’t want to use the equipment downstairs in the basement.
However, now that the home owners were planning on selling, I needed to focus on this area to make the listing pop. Sure, this space already did serve a purpose, but it wasn’t what I felt would appeal to the majority of potential buyers.
Based on the demographics of the neighborhood and the size of the home and yard, I determined that the potential buyers would most likely be a young, professional couple – first-time buyers, without children. So I decided to appeal to the female audience and create a luxe space where she could pamper herself and take a bit of “me time” before they start a family.
Therefore, I went with the idea of designing a dressing room. (The female version of a man cave, I guess.) Not everyone has a space in their home that they can forfeit to turn into a dressing room, so in my mind, I view a dressing room as somewhat of a guilty pleasure or luxury. Continue reading »
By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR Magazine
More Americans are showing their love for the great outdoors with their homes, seeking more outdoor living spaces at home that can blend in with their indoor spaces too, according to the American Institute of Architects Home Design Trends Survey for the first quarter of 2012. AIA surveyed nationwide architects to discover home preferences. The first quarter survey focused on home layout and the use of interior and exterior space.
“In the last few years, outdoor living spaces have become the new ‘great room’ in terms of must-have items for home owners,” says Kermit Baker, AIA’s chief economist. Continue reading »
By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR® Magazine
We’ve been hearing a lot about the downsizing trend taking hold in new homes, and that the square footage of homes is shrinking. But if you look at the latest housing stats from the Census Bureau, you might be scratching your head on that theory.
New-home sizes are actually increasing, an unexpected find that at first had a lot of people in the housing industry a little stumped. Home buyers are asking for smaller homes, not larger homes, according to field reports from those in the real estate industry. So what gives?
First off, let’s keep this in perspective: New-home sizes only grew by 88 square feet last year. But this marked the first year in four years that the average square foot of homes has grown, according to Census data. Homes in 2011 were 2,480 square feet compared to 2,392 square feet in 2010.
“Why was this happening when most people want smaller homes, want to downsize?” Rose Quint, assistant vice president for survey research at the National Association of Home Builders, told MSNBC.com. “This is exactly so counterintuitive to what we know is happening on the ground.”
The latest stats show that new-homes actually seem to be getting supersized, not downsized: Nearly 40 percent of new single-family homes in 2011 had four or more bedrooms, 28 percent had three or more bathrooms, and 54 percent of new homes were two stories or taller.
But housing analysts say there are several possible reasons for the disconnect in what home buyers are increasingly saying they want nowadays — which is small homes — and the bigger home size numbers.
By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR® Magazine
More home shoppers say they want to live where there is walkable space, and they’re willing to pay extra for it.
A new study by the Brookings Institution found that the more walkable an area is, the higher the real estate values and rents are there.
Researchers used Washington, D.C., for testing the walkability impact on home values. They found that “every step up the walkability ladder, the price per square foot jumps more than $300 on average for apartment rents, versus $82 for house values, $9 for annual office rents, and $7 for retail rents. Moreover, with each step up the ladder, the average household income climbs $10,000.”
Recent Comments