Today’s home buyers are not very interested in a house that threatens to chain them to weekends of cleaning, mowing, and other distasteful maintenance tasks. The millennial buyer, the young people who have taken over the top-spot in the world’s real estate market, are interested in finding a place that frees them to pursue other pleasures. So, as you and your home stylist discuss how to maximise the advantage styling can offer, look to down-playing your home’s needy nature.

We know that millennials do things differently than their baby boomer parents. The boomers were delighted, for example, to buy a fixer-upper and spend the rest of their lives puttering away at the task. Millennials have a different life-view. They are looking for a house that’s move-in-ready; it is easy to organise, easy to care for, and most importantly, easy to walk away from when they take one of their frequent mini-break holidays.

These buyers are not likely to buy a demanding home. Not only that, but they are also not interested in a house that may turn into a money pit. The aforementioned weekend-getaways take the place of the two-week holiday you might remember in your past. These people take more, smaller breaks from real life, which are funded through rigorous saving.

We’ve seen that millennials were willing to give up their big wedding and even new clothes in order to save for their new house. Savings, to these very conservative buyers, is a way of life. Consequently, the very thought of big utility bills or impending spendy repairs are truly offensive to them. If you want to sell to a millennial, you’d better be able to demonstrate your house’s energy efficiency.

With a mindset born of the most recent economic downturn, this group of buyers has a depression-era mentality. They simply loathe inefficiency in appliances, insulation, and any other factor that may compete with the other things they work so hard to afford. Setting these little deficits to right before you list your house will be a big step in the right direction.

If your appliances are not energy efficient, trade up and replace them with units that save money rather than waste it. If your AC unit is top of the line, be prepared to prove the savings it represents. If your home seems to leak conditioned air, fix the problem. Insulation is cheap when you think of the sales you might lose in the interim.

Do your windows show evidence of malfunction? Windows are meant to be insulators. When the seals that trap cool air inside and hot air outside fail, it’s time to replace them. Again, your millennial buyer will see window failure as a very good reason to pass on your house.

If your garden is high-maintenance, you probably have a problem. The good news is an excellent home stylist has tricks to make it palatable to the millennial buyer. Millennials love to entertain their friends at home. Think of the advantage styling an outside living/entertaining area with a fire-pit could produce. Okay. Maybe they will have to mow, but the perks outweigh the downside.

Other places in your home of great interest to a millennial shopper are floor coverings and storage capacity.

If you have any doubt whatsoever about the condition of your living room carpet, trash it. Replace it with easy-to-clean hardwood, laminate, or tile. Your home stylist will have suggestions about how to accomplish this for the least cash outlay and the best chance for return on investment.

Millennial buyers are also looking for clean, clutter-free spaces. This translates to increasing the efficiency of your storage areas. Add organisation to your wardrobes and linen cupboard. You don’t necessarily need to invest in one of those fancy-schmancy wardrobe systems; a few of the components may be enough to do the trick: an extra set of shelves or drawers, bins, and hanging two hanging rods instead of just one will help.

Ditto pantry and kitchen storage areas. Make the very most of the space you have by installing cleverly designed and inexpensive storage enhancers that provide a more organised appearance within your cabinetry. If you don’t do much else, throw a few bins and a lazy Susan into your pantry area, plus drawer organisers in your cooking areas. Poof. Instant organisational Nirvana

Making your property appear to be low-maintenance is the very thing your house stylist is best at accomplishing. Never discount the advantage styling can bring to a listed property. It will mean more money for you in the end.

Image courtesy of Chaplins Furniture.