Getting Your Home Upfront

If you could second guess the minds of potential buyers, you would be a long way to securing an offer. Knowing what it was that drew the buyer to view your home would help but this is usually impossible to gauge.

However, if you have a unique or luxury feature in your home you can guess that it may this that is encouraging buyers to 'take a look'. If you don't have a unique feature, then have you thought about getting one?

Certain features in a home just spell luxury. A prospective buyer will think he is getting a little more for his buck if your home has the odd lavish touch. Of course, luxury to one person can mean a Jennair stove and to another person it can mean a workshop attached to the garage. How to choose which 'bonus' you could offer in your home?

If you can only put in one luxury, then go for an indulgence that might have a general appeal. Some features will take far too much time/money/space etc in your own particular home, so that narrows the field.

According to a survey done on luxury amenities in a home, the largest percentage of house buyers (21%) chose a luxury kitchen (no surprises there!). A pool was the second choice at 14% and an in-home fitness studio or home movie theater was rated top by 8%.

There was a gender preference for several choices i.e. a den with home movie viewing was chosen by 11% of men but 5% of women (and probably 90% of children!); a luxury kitchen was chosen by 26% of women and only 15% of men.

Items such as luxury kitchens and pools are large investments, but in-home movie theaters or fitness studios are not too expensive, if you have the room. To be able to advertise your home as having its own movie theater may just bring the buyers along out of curiosity!

Generally, a movie theater requires the large screen TV and DVD player, four speakers, extra seating and a black-out curtain for your window. You can indulge in surround sound, and go for the smaller-sized speakers to free up more floor space.

If you find that this will only bring the buyers in and your offers are lower than expected, you can always negotiate to take it with you for your new home.

It is also possible to make your kitchen more luxurious by its presentation. Lighting can add enormous appeal to a room and it is not expensive to add dramatic back-lighting to your kitchen cabinets, or to add highlighting to your counter-tops by placing small fluorescent light fixtures underneath your wall cabinets.

Other easy-to-install lavish touches could include installing a pagoda in your back yard, installing a jetted bathtub or adding a workshop with a large work bench.

Perhaps it doesn't matter which luxury touch you add to your home, the bottom line is that it will single out your home from all the rest, and that is an important asset in today's over loaded market.

About The Author:
Joe Pinto is one of the top-producing agents in the Chicago real estate industry. With over 10 years of experience, Joe brings professionalism and hard work to help you in the sale or purchase of Bucktown condos in Chicago. For more information, visit Joe at ChicagoHomeEstates.com