So, what are buyers looking for anyway?

According to an article published in the LA Times, buyer’s wants and needs lists have changed over the past decade. With the downturn in the economy and a move towards practical versus showy, the following shifts are becoming apparent as builders and developers change up their blue prints.

Today’s buyers are looking for:

• Large kitchen with an island
• Green features: high efficiency appliances, insulation & windows
• More space in secondary bedrooms – 10X10 not okay anymore
• Home offices or studies
• Main floor master bedroom
• Two or Three car garage
• Master bath with oversized shower & seating – with a trend towards smaller master baths
• Children’s playground, walking paths nearby

At one time got buyer’s attention, now, not so much:

• Formal dining room
• Upstairs laundry rooms & home theaters
• Expensive “focal point” stairways
• Vast, impressive, formal entryways
• Large expanses of glass in windows – due to being less efficient
• The community clubhouse/pool/gym
• Swimming pools
• Dog parks
• Golf courses

Buyers on Bainbridge Island Have Their Lists Too:

They too follow these nation-wide trends, and folks are certainly prescribing to the less is more philosophy of smart use of space.   But all-in-all the average size house here is still pretty large at 2600 square feet.  Our weather makes sense of that want/need and here are a few others wants/needs I have seen on Bainbridge Island buyer’s lists:

Bainbridge Buyer’s List:

• An ADU or guest space
• Basement
• Bonus Room
• Mud Rooms
• Lots of windows or skylights
• Decks or easy to access backyard space
• High or vaulted ceilings
• Open floor-plans
• Heat pumps – efficient heat

Many of these features speak to life in the Northwest, light is very important.  An ADU or guest space is important to many folks because Bainbridge Island is such a great place to visit  – many people regularly have family or visitors coming to stay. What I find interesting and challenging out in the field with buyers is that buyers want these features in their homes now, but often times buyers are looking at homes that are 10-20 years old.  Many people plan on making changes after purchase and I think that will continue to be the case for many buyers since new construction has been so limited in the past three years and likely will be for the next three.  So, yes I predict you’ll see more dumpsters in driveways as folks knock down that dining room wall to create that big, open kitchen . . .with skylights . . .and a mud room attached.