WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON IN YOUR BEDROOM? © 2013 by Wayne D. Lewis, Sr.
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perspectives from Wayne Lewis at:
It’s a good thing that I am writing this in a blog
post. There are some people who would
answer the topic question in too detail a manner. Can you say: TMI? While I am sure that the topic question may
evoke, or perhaps provoke a conversation of celestial bliss, and wild nights,
this is not that conversation. My
apologies to those of you who were ready to settle down and get buck wild. Not going to happen. Instead, let us pull all of, or any of those
thoughts back into port, and focus on the physical (pardon the pun) aspects of
the bedroom. Which bedroom? We’ll start with the Master Bedroom.
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The master bedroom, as we know, has evolved over the
years. Many of us may remember that only
the difference between the master bedroom and any other bedroom was the fact
that mom and dad slept in it. There may
have been other distinguishing features such that it may have been a 10 X 9
size compared to a 7 X 9 of the other rooms; or maybe it had the nicest and
largest furniture, or, the fact that it was the place everyone gathered when
ever a terrible storm was overhead.
Other than that, it was no more distinguishable than any other bedroom.
Today, the master bedroom has evolved into a palatial
suite. It may consist of ceiling fans,
tray ceilings, stylized tiled with a medallion in the center, a raised bed,
window seating, his and hers closets, and its own bath, which is a story unto
itself. So we will try to focus on the
bedroom itself.
The master bedroom becomes one of the most desired rooms to
preview when a home is on the market. It
could make or break a potential sale.
Why? Because when home buyers are
looking from house to house, the bedrooms are high on the list of must haves. Again, not to disregard baths and kitchens,
but bedrooms have to pull their weight in the sale of your home too. Here are at least 4 things that need to be in
place in order help sell your home:
- size
- location in the home
- features
- cleanliness
Consider the above list a partial list, general if you
will. Each buyer has their own
expectations of what they expect to see; feel, smell, and whatever other senses
that may be excited as they enter your bedroom.
Let’s see how these four areas come into play.
SIZE
What is the perfect size master bedroom? That is a relative question. As many homes as I have shown, it is amazing
how the master bedroom can actually be smaller than some of the other bedrooms
in the house. But what may make it
perfect for one buyer, for another buyer, it will be too small. I’ve never heard that the master bedroom was
too large. Too small, and the sale of
your home could be jeopardy. But you may
still have room to save the sale of your home, if the location, features and
cleanliness of the room tips the scale.
Avoiding common mistakes in the master bedrooms: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cqo5Onb5pk
LOCATION IN YOUR HOME
It may seem insignificant, but it is very important to many
home buyers where the Master Bedroom is located in your home. For some home buyers, the master bedroom
needs to be on the 2nd floor.
So, yes, you need to add a floor and put the master bedroom
upstairs. Oh, and if you put the master
bedroom up there, make sure the bath is attached. It is rare that the homeowner is willing to
walk down the hall, across the hall, or God forbid, down the stairs to the
bathroom.
If your master bedroom is on the 1st floor, the
bath is an appendage. If there is no bat
attached where the buyer can walk into the bathroom without showing their
parts, it’s not a master bedroom. If it
is on the 1st floor, the master bedroom, for some buyers, needs to
be at the back of the house, or on the front of the house. But, the master bedroom cannot be next to the
den, living room, dinning room, or kitchen.
Buyers prefer that kind of privacy where everyone cannot see into, or
know of their ins and outs.
Last, but not least, the master bedroom, for the 1st
time home buyer especially, needs to be in close proximity to the nursery (1st
or 2nd floor, optional). No,
everyone does not need a nursery, but there is that discussion of that room
that will be a nursery, and it needs to be on the same floor as the master
bedroom.
For those of you whose homes have 2 master bedrooms, you are
not playing fair. You just blew all of
this information out of the water.
Because now, the one of the two bedrooms need to be on either side of
the house, and cannot share a bath room.
And depending on the size of the house and floor plan, cannot face each other;
be near the kitchen, dinning room, den, or living room. Again, not a deal breaker, but it certainly
adds to the complicated process of home buying.
Thank you, no seriously, thank you.
Home Staging Tips: The Master Bedroom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB74Z5-R8Zk
FEATURES
Earlier, we talked about features. Features are also relative. By that I mean, that a ceiling fans in every
room is a feature, but it is not on the list of what a buyer may want, or even
need to make a sale. So, yes, a ceiling
fan is an item in the Master bedroom, it may also be a drawback. I recall one client who had a queen-sized
canopy bed, she approximated that the fan blades would make it difficult to set
up her bed, so she did not buy the house.
But, someone did buy the house, so it is matter of meeting the buyer’s
needs.
Features such as a master bathroom (we keep coming back to
that for a reason) off of the master bedroom is perhaps tops. It takes longer to sell a home that does not
have a master bath attached to the master bedroom (just so you know). Another feature would be custom drapes, or
blinds; ceramic tiled floors seem to be more desired than carpeting. The reasons that I am hearing is that
carpeting may contribute to allergies, or harder to keep clean. Others prepare carpeting because in the
winter time, it saves walking barefoot on cold floors. (To each his own). Another feature is wall-mounted TV (Yes the
TV must come with the house). Many
homeowners place these items in their homes for their personal enjoyment. The mounting is the apparent feature. To the buyers, removal of the mounting
suggests that there are going to be holes in the wall and paint matching is not
going to be the same. So, the TV, which
is attached to the wall, becomes a feature of contention. (Put it in the contract, negotiate it out)
Unintended features of a master bedroom could be size, and
location. To bring location back into
the conversation, a feature could be the view.
Buyers may want their master bedroom to face a lake, the backyard,
woods, or the street. Another unintended
feature of a master bedroom is its anticipated use to another room. We talked about the nursery, but sometimes
buyers look at the room next door and decide to cut a doorway and make an
office or an exercise room, or, access to the nursery.
CLEANLINESS
If this is a touchy subject to you, feel free to skip
it. But if you are putting your home on
the market, let’s face it, it needs to be in order. It may appear irrelevant that your bed is not
made up, or that you have dirty clothes on the chairs, or that the curtains are
tattered, or mix-matched, the home buyer is trying to envision their next
home. If your home is priced at market
value, a buyer is looking for a market-value home.
Cleanliness, from the kitchen, to the bath, living room,
dinning room, other bedrooms and yes, the master bedroom, should be the order
of the day. As real estate
professionals, we often emphasize curb appeal.
That means, getting a buyer into the home. But it can all go to pot if the home looks
like a battlefield.
Obviously, every home can’t look like a Ritz-Carlton, but
cleanliness, while listed last here, is really at the top of the list for
today’s homebuyer. Cleanliness is not
only visual, but it is smell, feel, and atmosphere. Cleanliness does not mean spray every can of
air freshener, lighting every scented candle, or mopping with ammonia so
strong, it may require resuscitation.
Cleanliness is just that, clean. Organized, no dirt, dust, or trash. If scent is important, something that is
light in fragrance, but not overpowering.
SUMMARY
Regardless of what goes on in the sellers’ bedroom while
they own it, it not our business. If the
sellers’ want to broadcast on Youtube[1],
Facebook[2],
or LinkedIn[3], or even
blog about it, that’s their call. But
for the buyers, it’s all about location, features, size, and cleanliness.
I know that we discussed some important, perhaps personal
things when we talk about the bedroom, particularly, the master bedroom. It is a seller’s personal domain. It is where the seller rests, sleeps, thinks,
and regroups. It is that part of the
house where the owner is perhaps at their most vulnerable. But it is a very important part of the
home. While the kitchen and baths may
seem to hold a tremendous role in home ownership, the buyer, and the seller can
both agree, that what goes on in the bedroom is best determined by where it is
located, its size, its features and how clean it is. When on the market, the master bedroom is on a
stage of its own, and on that stage, it must shine, without a blemish, and be
ready to be acquired in the most fashionable and loving manner. While it up to the buyer to appreciate the
master bedroom with their eyes, feelings, and sense of smell, it is up to the
seller to make it as appreciable as possible.
No posts within these blogs should be considered an
attempt to solicit the clients or customers of any agent or brokerage. No part of these posts should be considered
as legal advice. Information here, while
deemed from reliable sources is not guaranteed. Links should not be considered as endorsements.
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