What Rooms Are Important To Selling Your Charlotte, NC. Home?

Recently I have been getting a lot of questions form potential home sellers about what to do to get their home ready to go on the market after the holiday. One question that keeps coming up in the discussions are what rooms are people looking for today in buying homes and what do I have to do to get those rooms ready. I started thinking about the questions and though I have some generalities of what I have heard home buyers want and need in a house; I decided to ask fellow agents what they thought and what feedback they were getting form buyers on what rooms were important to them to when buying a house. The number one room we all agreed upon is the kitchen. First and foremost this seems to be the room that all home buyers gravitate toward. Be it the wife or the husband; there is one or both of them that like to cook and this room seems to be a make or break deal for a lot of home buyers. Now depending on the size of the house the space in the kitchen is going to be subjective. But it should be proportionate to the house. I looked at a 3000+ square foot house with a couple a few months ago and the one thing that caught me when we were walking through the house was the small size of the kitchen in relation to the rest of the house. They noticed the same thing and even though they loved the flow of the house and everything else about it the kitchen was a deal breaker for them on that particular house. Regardless of the size of the house one common factor I heard from buyers this past year was plenty of cabinet space and a pantry in the kitchen. This was a big deal as was countertop space. AS we are slowly becoming more of a society trying to get away form fast food and more time at home eating together the kitchen has become more prevalent now... Another thing about the kitchen was the location and openness of it. Was it centrally located for entertaining and could it have people in there without each other walking over one another? I know having four kids on the weekends when my wife is cooking this room is the most utilized room in the house. If your kitchen looks old and dated it may be time for a facelift to it. You would be amazed what fresh paint and refinishing of cabinets can do to a kitchen as well as new stainless steel appliances. It can make the whole kitchen a different room...and help sell the house. The other room I am hearing more and more about is the family room. Home buyers are looking for a room that they can sit down as a family together and watch TV, a movie, or just hang out. The space in that room seems to be just as important as the kitchen to prospective home buyers. They want to know they can get their furniture in there or that the room will be large enough for everyone to sit and enjoy time together..... If you have a family room/living room make sure it is de-cluttered. The less items in there the better. You need couches and chairs to sit on but try to minimalize the unnecessary furniture and toys so that the room shows off the true size and not make it look smaller than it really is. The last room I hear people looking for a decent size in is the master bedroom. Though this room is not as high a priority it still ranks up there with a lot of home buyers. And one common factor seems to be whether the room is large enough to have a king sized bed and their dressers in the room. it seems that every master bedroom I walk into when showing homes that is the first thing I hear coming out of the buyers mouths if the room does not have one or "look this has a king sized bed in it". The room does not need to be flashy but should have ample size to fit a king sized bed. As time goes on taste and needs and wants change. It seems that the buyers of today are looking for nice kitchens with a good sized family room and a master bedroom they can fit their king sized bed. Now there are always going to be other criteria for buyers and not everyone fits in the same mold. But if you are looking to sell your house and thinking of what you can do to help it sell or get it ready to put on the market; these would be the three rooms I would start with... Dave diCecco Realtor/Broker Helen Adams Realty Cell: 704-519-7895 ddicecco@helenadamsrealty.com www.davedicecco.com