With real estate prices in New South Wales continuing to climb, it may be no surprise that the largest group of home buyers, the millennials, struggle to buy their first home. Nevertheless, these younger buyers will soon claim 40 percent of the real estate market. This struggle makes the younger buyer even more particular when it comes to the amenities they want in their first house. If you intend to capture your share of this market and sell to a millennial buyer, your first order of business is to turn to your selling agent and the real estate stylist in order to plan your presentation carefully.
It goes without saying that these upwardly mobile individuals are looking for a bargain. They want more for their money and won’t settle for less. When these buyers inspect your home, they are looking for ways to enjoy their new place in a cost-effective way – they have probably scrimped and saved for years just to gather a deposit, now they want their property to pay them back. If you are hoping to attract a young buyer for your home, here is a list of things to optimise as you prepare your home for sale.
Maintenance: These buyers will turn and run from your home if they are met with obvious deferred maintenance work. Roofs that need repair or replacement, driveways in need of refinishing, shabby paint, or rickety, cheap looking construction are big turn-offs for the millennial buyer.
Before you list your home for sale, be sure to take a walk through, looking at and listening for signs of neglect. Look at the ceilings for signs of water leaks. Listen to the motor on the air conditioning unit and the kitchen extractor fan. If there is evidence of maintenance issues that have been ignored, now is the time to fix them. Millennial buyers want a turn-key home. It needs to be move-in ready to truly capture their attention.
Potential: Young buyers are able to look at a property and recognise what could be done to make their own indelible mark on it. The house need not be painted in their favourite colours, but it helps if the place is well painted in neutral tones that don’t shock or offend. (If the colour of eggplant pleases you, it doesn’t mean that everybody will love a bathroom painted in that particular shade.) The real estate stylist you’ve chosen will happily help you neutralise your home’s first impression and tell you what must be done to help your new buyers envision their family actually living in the space.
The young buyer is looking for good bones in the structure and the potential to assume their own personality as time goes by.
A Solid Start: First time buyers, which most millennials are, have been frugal with their finances for years in order to enter the housing market. They have probably leveraged every dollar they can find in order to be where they are today. They will probably NOT be able to afford many renovation or upgrade projects for a long time, so they are looking for as many bells and whistles in their starter home as possible.
This means that you, as a seller, should be upgrading now if you want to capture their attention. Look long and hard at your kitchen and bathrooms. Money spent on either of these rooms will almost certainly come back to you at sale. Spend what you must to upgrade kitchen appliances. Consider replacing benchtops and splashbacks if they are showing wear and tear. Look to floors as well to be sure the rooms come off as top of the line.
As you prepare your home for sale, consult with the real estate stylist you’ve chosen regularly. There are an amazing number of facts about younger buyers that your stager can tap into in order to help your house lure the big dreams of younger buyers. Selling to this segment of the real estate market requires a bit of strategy, but because there are more of these buyers, your chance of selling to them is far greater. Good luck!
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V. Mason – June 2, 2017
