Everyone shopping for a home looks for a house that best fits their current needs. But savvy shoppers also think ahead to what a property offers future buyers and buy with resale in mind. Here are some considerations to consider so that your dream home doesn’t turn out to be a nightmare to resell down the road.
The Most Important Question
When considering a home to buy, it’s important to ask yourself, “Will this house appeal to future buyers?”. Features you find appealing will probably appeal to someone like you later at resale. The same is true of things you find to be a turnoff. But if your tastes are idiosyncratic, keep in mind that you’ll get the best price on resale if the home appeals to as many potential buyers as possible. Be careful not to narrow your resale options when buying a home.
Location, Location, Location
Let location be your prime consideration when shopping for a home with good resale value. Buyers want houses that are convenient to the things important in their lives, such as work, good schools, shopping, medical care, public transportation, major roadways, and entertainment.
Don’t forget to check into zoning and future plans are for the nearby community as well as the area immediately surrounding the home you want to buy. Are new schools planned? Are there new shopping areas to come? Or is someone planning to build an apartment complex or freeway on that quiet greenbelt behind the house? Changes such as these might make your home more or less desirable to future home shoppers.
Floor Plan Design
Here are some issues to keep in mind as you search for homes with future resale in mind.
- Size matters. Young couples and families need a house big enough to handle their space needs now and as they grow. To improve your chances for a profitable resale, choose a home with at least three bedrooms and two baths. Homes smaller than this aren’t impossible to resell, but they appeal to a narrow segment of buyers.
- The configuration of space is also important. A house with a quirky room layout and awkward traffic flow is a turnoff. Choosing a house with floor plan limitations narrows the pool of potential buyers.
- Look for a kitchen that is open to dining and living areas, has good cabinet and counter space, and that has plenty of space for two or more people to work.
In two-story homes, downstairs primary bedrooms are popular. A spacious primary bath is probably the second most important room for buyers, after the kitchen. - Space for storage in closets, the basement, and the attic is important to most buyers.
- A good-sized living area, game room or media room that helps promote family time and make it easy to entertain guests is attractive to potential buyers. So is a nice deck or patio, especially one with an outdoor grill.
- Pools appeal to some resale buyers. Others may not want the added maintenance cost and potential liability.
- Neighborhood amenities are also important, as are the age and state of repair of expensive features such as roofs, windows and HVAC systems.
Curb Appeal
Homes with handsome exteriors sell. Appealing architecture, attractive brick and stone, and inviting paint colors come together to help improve resale value. Beautiful landscaping also enhances an attractive exterior.
A Home with a View Helps Resale
A gorgeous view adds resale dollars. Looking out on mountains, hills and forests can add 5 percent to 12 percent to a home’s resale price, depending on the elevation of the house. A view of water can add even more ﹘as much as 80 percent for a really spectacular vista that can be seen from many rooms of the house.
Related: Is the First Rule of Real Estate Still Location, Location, Location?
