November 16th, 2021 | Selling
How To Prepare Your Home To Appeal To Millennial Buyers
At Armin Group Real Estate, whenever we help our clients sell their homes, we always urge them to prepare their listings to appeal to the widest network of potential buyers possible — both locally and internationally.
That being said, however, we also know that certain properties are better suited to certain buyer demographics than others, or that one demographic in particular is driving most of the buyer interest in a listing’s current local market. These days, that’s the Millennial generation, and the types of properties they’re looking to buy tend to be the types of properties empty nesters and downsizers are looking to sell.
So, whether you’re thinking about downsizing soon or are just curious to know how we advise our selling clients on how to they can attract a younger buyer demographic, here are our tips on how to prepare your home to appeal to Millennials buyers in today’s market.
Start In The Kitchen
Back when we were younger, being handy in the kitchen wasn’t a skill everyone had — or even cared about having. These days, however, food culture is deeply ingrained in the Millennial generation, and being able to cook up an impressive meal at home is perceived as being about as luxurious as being able to take a bath in a large soaker tub.
That’s why it always pays dividends to ensure your kitchen looks and feels as beautiful and practical as possible when targeting the Millennial home buyer demographic. A few key preparations you can do in this room to cater to those Millennial buyers would definitely start with a thorough cleaning and decluttering of the entire space — from cabinets to countertops.
From there, it should be your preparatory goal to make the kitchen feel as bright and airy as possible, which can be done with some painting and staging. If it’s within your budget, updating your appliances to stainless steel units will also make your kitchen very covetable for Millennial buyers, who highly value craftsmanship and quality design.
Although a home’s paint shouldn’t ever make or break a buyer’s decision to purchase a home, it can absolutely transform a space to look much more desirable. Find out which colours we’re gravitating towards by reading our related post all about the Colours Of The Year 2021.
Nice Lighting Is Luxurious
If you’ve ever taken a look at the quintessential Millennial Instagram account, you’ll have probably noticed most of them know how to take exceptional selfies. Their secret? Lighting.
Millennials have embraced the power of fantastic lighting and how it can enhance not only their social media posts but their daily lives at home too. Generally speaking, Millennials aren’t big fans of dark, dreary spaces and tend to prefer a much brighter, more sophisticated approach to lighting their homes.
Of course, natural light is always going to be the most desirable, but even if your home doesn’t necessarily tout extra-large south-facing windows, you can still make the artificial lighting in your home count — especially lights with dimmer switches. Experiment with illuminating rooms in your home indirectly via discreet ‘up-lighting’ and ‘down-lighting’.
These more dramatic lighting techniques work best with either string or pot lighting positioned in stowed away spaces. Simply connect battery-operated stick-on lighting atop high pieces of furniture (your full-size wardrobe, for example) or below lower pieces of furniture (like your living room console or kitchen cabinets) to achieve this moodier, more dramatic sense of lighting.
If you’re wondering how we know so much about Millennials, it’s because we are Millennials — at least, some of us, anyway. If you’d like to learn a little bit more about who we are and just where our real estate expertise comes from exactly, you can visit our team member biography pages below.
Energy Efficiency Is Essential
While most Millennials tend to be much more visually driven and aesthetically focused than other generations, they’ve also got much more ethical environmental standards than previous generations too.
While we aren’t saying you should head out to your backyard and dig up a big compost pit before hosting your next open house, there are quite a few things you can do around your home to make it more energy-efficient (and appeal to more Millennials).
To start, you should address any dated home appliances that not only eat up the energy bill budget but are also harmful to the environment. Whether that means finding a new dishwasher, fridge, furnace, or dryer, you’ll easily be able to find more environmentally friendly alternatives available on the market — and at relatively palatable prices as well.
If you haven’t installed intelligent automated home systems that track the performance of your heating and cooling systems yet either, then it’s probably a good time to invest in one of those before putting your home up for sale too.
Essentially, the more eco-friendly you can make your home appear, the more desirable it’ll be to Millennials for both ethical reasons and economical reasons as smarter home systems will ultimately cut down on monthly energy expenses simultaneously.
In today’s modern real estate market, the definitions of terms like ‘luxury’ are changing rapidly. Find out which home features are the most coveted among the buyers of today and how you can use that to earn the best returns from your home sale here.
- The New State Of Luxury Real Estate In Toronto
- Five Factors To Maximize Your Home Sale In Today’s Market
Adaptability Earns Returns
No matter which age generation you belong to, we’ll have all been forced to spend more time at home over the past year or so than we probably ever have before. And one thing the COVID-19 pandemic taught us was that we could all use an extra room or two.
For many Millennials whose time spent at home during our extended lockdown periods was less than ideal, their biggest frustrations came from having limited adaptable rooms and spaces within their home.
If they were working from home (potentially at the same time as their spouse or partners) then they struggled to find enough room for adequate home office space. When private gyms were shut down, the same frustrations were felt when Millennials couldn’t find adequate space to exercise from home either.
That’s why presenting certain rooms in your home — like a den, garage, or basement — as highly adaptable is something that will draw attention from most Millennial homebuyers who are looking for a larger space. Keep in mind that many Millennials still primarily working from home and many of them also haven’t renewed their gym memberships. That’s why a bit of clever staging in certain rooms can go a long way in piquing the interest of buyers from that age group.
Professionally staging a home is one of the most effective ways to make it appeal to more potential buyers, but all of that staging furniture always seems to disappear once you’ve moved in. If you’re wondering how best to style your next space, read through our home design-driven article, “Is Your Home Decor Up To Date?” here.
Maximize Your Outdoor Space
Another area of your home that you should do all you can to upgrade and emphasize when preparing your home for sale is your outdoor space. Everyone loves patio season, but Millennials especially, so when we were all stuck inside due to pandemic-induced lockdown restrictions, it inherently increased the value of at-home patio spaces for Millennials.
Whether you’ve got a balcony, deck space, or an expansive backyard, Millennial buyers will most likely fall in love with your outdoor area if you put some time and effort into making it appear tranquil and enticing.
The good news is, all it takes to transform most yard spaces is some basic landscaping, which you can either take on yourself or hire out to a team of professionals. Either way, focus on practicality and entertainment value — Millennials want to feel like they can host their friends for cocktails one night and then spend a quiet night under the stars the next.
Just be sure your outdoor areas look neat and tidy while also welcoming and you’ll have a long line of Millennials lusting over your listing in no time.
Seeing as we frequently work with some of the most highly-acclaimed landscapers and landscape designers in the city, we’re always up to speed on the most in-demand trends when it comes to homes’ outdoor areas. Get a taste of what we’re talking about by reading through our 5 Tips For Creating Your Own Home Outdoor Oasis here.
