Practically every real estate agent will harp on the undisputable fact that it is kitchens and bathrooms that help you in selling house; so the faster a seller upgrades these, the better the price he garners!
A common theory in the realty market is that a well-equipped kitchen and a bathroom with a good ambiance are major deciding factors when it comes to a house purchase deal.
Buying a property is the most high-value investment, a lifetime asset and a decision which creates the biggest impact on the life of the buyers; so unless they are the keen DIY types or stinking rich buyers they would want these two key spaces to be upgraded by the seller.
Gharpedia brings you a look into why do kitchen and bathroom designs lend you a hand in selling house along with tips to showcase these two areas to clinch a profitable house deal.
Reasons why Kitchens and Bathrooms are Good Sales Pitches
Kitchens and Bathrooms Display the Age of the Construction:
Real estate consultant Ranjit Trivedi shares from his experience “Basically the two factors that reveal the construction age of a property are the architectural style and the materials used to build the same which are in turn expressed through the facade and the style of the kitchen and bathroom.” How true this is! Both these spaces have a plethora of finishes, surfaces, fixtures and fittings through which they showcase the age of the house. And with the whopping costs involved no one in their right senses would even dream of buying a house which demands a kitchen or bathroom renovation!
Everyone Harps on Kitchens and Bathrooms!:
Just pick up an interior design magazine; or switch on the television to view a soap or a movie or a reality show; or log in to your social media account or Best Home Design Section of Gharpedia and check out the pics of your contacts– we bet that either of these spaces (kitchen or bathroom) would definitely feature in them! So as buyers have been organically conditioned to notice these spaces it’s no small wonder that an outstanding kitchen or bathroom propels them to purchase a property.
Kitchens and Bathrooms Creates an Emotional Connection:
Well let’s do a small exercise – just sit back and count how many waking hours you spend in your kitchen and bathroom…quite a lot, eh? So it’s not surprising that when you embark on your house hunting odyssey it is these two spaces that generate either a positive or negative decision basis their style.
Humungous Expenses of Renovation:
The refurbishment, renovation or remodelling of a kitchen or a bathroom will cost you the moon! So unless you’ve got a lot of money to throw around you would prefer buying a house which doesn’t call for any expense in these two spaces. The skyrocketing expense apart such remodelling projects demand a lot of time and end up with the home dwellers facing a lot of inconvenience and discomfort too.
Serviceability:
Kitchens, being the heaviest used spaces in a house new innovations and technology – like a bin drawer or engineered stone or hi-tech appliances or a water purifier embedded in the kitchen wall et al – up the functionality quotient and hence add a desirable factor for home buyers
So, in a nutshell upgraded kitchens and swanky bathrooms tip the scales in favour of a property as they tap into two significant aspects of a buyer’s decision-making process – emotions, where they can actually visualise themselves living there; and finance as they don’t need to shell out an additional amount on a refurbishment.
Best Kitchen Staging Tips
With overlapping of gender roles, people are spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Hence while vetting a house the positive and negative features of a kitchen leave a lasting impression on the prospective buyer.
Well none of us has a magic wand which can be waved and voila our drab kitchen gets transformed into a chic version! The basic layout is something which you can do nothing about! But yes what you can do is highlight its best features by dressing them up to enhance the overall vibes of the room. Here’s showing you how –
- Replace counter tops or alternatively add an attractive back splash that woos your buyers
- When it comes to cabinets – just change the hardware; and if need be replace the cabinet and drawer fronts
- Replace light fixtures and/or windows to up the light quotient
- Invest in new appliances, especially the bulky ones which catch the eye of the buyer like – refrigerators, stoves, dishwashers and microwaves
- Floor the buyer with your flooring! If need be replace your worn and outdated flooring with the latest market option
- A fresh coat of paint in sync with the current trends is an absolute mandate
- Ensure that there are no – leaky faucets; and drawers/doors/windows that are a pain to open and close
- Ascertain that all additional utensils, equipments, tools and other kitchen paraphernalia are stacked away in the store room or loft so that you can mimic a feeling of boundless storage with those clean surfaces, drawers, cabinets and pantry!
- Everything needs to look and smell squeaky clean so – scrub the appliances, cabinets, sinks, faucets, counter-tops, the dustbin et al.
- In case you’ve got a water tank then have it cleaned we don’t want algae and fungi floating around, do we!
Best Bathroom Staging Tips
Thanks to the pandemic all of us are spending a lot of time in the bathrooms! Jokes apart a bathroom is the only space in a house where one can luxuriate in a bath tub or a shower after a gruelling day and wash away the exhaustion (and also the germs and bacteria!). So it’s organic that a potential buyer thoroughly checks out this space.
Well thankfully the touch-ups here are more or less the same as in the kitchen albeit on a smaller scale and a tad lighter on your pocket too! So here’s what you can do to portray your bathroom in an alluring way –
- Conduct a recce of your fixtures and ruthlessly replace the out-dated ones
- Ensure that the faucets are shiny clean and so are the light fixtures, the sink and the bathtub/shower
- Invest in a medicine cabinet with built-in lighting
- Here too the golden rule of a fresh coat of paint is compulsory
- Ensure that the towels are coordinated and hang them on swanky towel rods/hooks – trust us these don’t come at an exorbitant cost and the new look which they lend to your bathroom is invaluable!
- Repair/replace – grout, leaky fixtures, caulking around the sinks and tub/shower
- Scrub everything to ensure that it sparkles … there’s a lot of back breaking work to do here as it’s replete with elements like– toilet, sink, faucet hardware, mirror, soap dishes, etc.
- Change the towels, shower curtains and bath mats
Conclusion
Refurbishment of – the kitchen and the bathroom – is an absolute mandate because if you don’t spruce up these two key spaces your home might lag on the market. These focal points are buyer hot spots and can make or break a house deal.
Also, as you are interested in selling your house and if you are convinced with our suggestions regarding the same, before taking leave we would insist you to have a glance at following articles related to house selling.
Selling Your Home? Here are Hassle-Free Solutions
Creative Ideas on How to Sell Your Smart Property FAST!
Should You Renovate Your House Before Selling It?
Author Bio
Huta Raval – An English Literature and Journalism Topper, Huta Raval has graduated from the L D Arts College, Ahmedabad. Post serving for 23 years in the NBFC and Public Library Sectors her desire for ‘writing the unwritten’ brought her to the creative field of content writing. Her clientele comprises of NGOs, Blogging Platforms, Newspapers, Academic Institutions, et al.