Maggie Evans 
When you first buy a home, it’s a blank canvas for you to express your personal interior design style. You’ll, of course, do minor upgrades that will enhance your living space while you’re there, but if you plan on selling your house later on down the line, it’s important to keep the resale value of your home in the future a near thought in your mind.
While you may not be planning to sell your home any time soon, it’s still important to be very mindful about the renovations and upgrades you make to your home as it can impact how quickly your home will sell when you’re ready to put it on the market.
All too often, homeowners will make renovations to their homes to cater to their current needs and find out later that it was one of the biggest mistakes they could have ever made. Some upgrades and renovations homeowners make that completely turn-off potential buyers include:
- Converting the garage into a spare room
- Installing a pool
- Removing closets to add square footage
- Turning a bedroom into a custom home theater
For the average home buyer, these renovations and upgrades are too niche or simply not practical enough for a sustainable every day life, and can ultimately leave you with a house that’s too hard to sell.
The thing to remember is that just as you saw your home as a blank canvas for you to express your interior design creativity, you want to give potential home buyers interested in your home that very same opportunity as well. And the way you’re going to be able to do that is to give them everything they could possibly want in a home… Once you give them that, they’ll definitely want to buy your home.
To get your home sold fast, here’s the upgrades and features you need to make sure your home has.
Top Features Every Potential Home Buyer Looks For in Their New Home
Garage Space
Potential home buyers don’t only want a garage, they want a two-car garage if possible! In fact, according to a survey by Impulse Research, 80% of a home buyer’s decision to buy a home is based on whether or not the home has a garage or not.
This consideration is extremely important, and it’s understandable why. When it comes to home buyers, there are two different types. And as far as garages go, each type wants a garage for different reasons.
Home Buyer Types
- The seasoned home buyer: This home buyer has bought homes before and is used to having a garage. So when they’re in the market to buy a new home, they won’t even look at homes without one because they’re already accustomed to life with a garage, and there’s no turning back.
- The rent-to-own home buyer: This home buyer has rented their entire self-fufficient life, which means they’ve had to endure first come-first serve parking or limited parking like in a cramped condo or apartment complex… They’re not about to buy a house with those same parking conditions.
For the seasoned home buyer, the expectation has been set to buy only homes with gagrages, and for the rent-to-own home buyer, they’re setting the expectation that they’re not buying a home without their own parking… So, converting your garage space into something else is a huge no-no.
Energy-Efficiency
If we’re going to be honest here, when it comes to energy efficiency, people are all for helping the environment, but the biggest perk of energy efficiency to most people is that it lowers their monthly electric bills. When you’re looking to sell your home and are trying to figure out the types of renovations to make, consider having energy-efficient appliances installed.
Did you know we use, on average, around 80-100 gallons of water a day? Things like your energy-efficient bathroom toilets, shower heads, and faucets can reduce that number tremendously. Whether you opt for energy-efficient kitchen appliances or smart thermostats, even just a few of these features are all features that home buyers are absolutely willing to pay more for because they know it will benefit them in the long-run.
In addition to having energy-efficient appliances in your home, if you want to simply add a little charm for buyers interested in your home, let them know that solar energy is available in the area. For instance, if you live in Texas, they’d simply need to check out the average electricity prices in Texas, and then sign up for the best rate. That will most definitely win them over.
Storage Space/Walk-In Closet Space
What’s the one thing people realize when they move? How much “stuff” they have. After living somewhere for so long, you don’t realize how much stuff you accumulate over the years until you move, and because of that, making sure your home has ample storage space is a top feature home buyers look for. That means, do NOT get rid of walk-in closets to create a bigger room… If anything, you may want to create more space for your walk-in closet and make the room a bit smaller!
There are many different ways to create storage space for every room in your home like with shelving and finishing an attic or basement. But if you have ample yard space, you can extend some of your rooms to create bigger closets and rooms… If you have the yard space to do it, adding more square footage without taking away too much from your home exteriors, it will definitely play in your favor.
You may have your own ideas of the features you want to incorporate in your home when you’re ready to sell, but by adding these features, your home is guaranteed to come off the market fast!
