8 Tips for Selling an Older Home to Young Buyers
Selling any home can be challenging, depending on the market. But if you have an old home and want to appeal to young buyers in their 20s and early 30s, you may need to take some extra steps. First, you’ll need to assuage the fears of young buyers about maintaining a home.. Second, you’ll need to showcase the features that have the most appeal to young couples and families. The following eight tips won’t cost a lot of money, but they could help you reap numerous offers!
Pre- Inspect your Home
One of the most difficult decisions for home sellers is to figure out how much to spend on home improvement projects before putting the house on the market. In addition to a general home inspection, we recommend that homeowners get the heating and air-conditioning system cleaned and inspected and septic systems pumped.
Purchase a Home Warranty
Sellers should purchase home warranties that cover repairs for the systems (electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling) and appliances in the home. Most home warranties are available as one-year policies and provide coverage while the property is on the market and after the closing.A home warranty costs around $300 to $400 and reassures buyers that they won’t be faced with a major repair expense in their first year of homeownership.
Offer a Possible Expansion or Renovation Plan
Sellers can pay for simple drawings that show some renovation options that would work well with the home’s configuration and its lot. Sellers can find out about any permit issues with an expansion such as height or setback restrictions or wetland and include that information with marketing materials.
Provide Renovation Loan Information
Mortgages are available that allow homebuyers to borrow money to buy the home plus money to pay for renovations. The most popular renovation mortgage program is called the FHA203k. The loans are insured by the Federal Housing Administration.
Offer Credit for Repairs
Sellers don’t always have the money or the energy to make repairs themselves, and besides, some buyers will want to do renovations their own way. While repair credits are often part of the negotiating process, if you know some things will need fixing, you can provide information about the credit upfront to prospective buyers, so they know they won’t have to pay for a new furnace as soon as they move in.
Lighten and Brighten your Home
Homes that were built decades ago are darker with smaller windows, so to compensate for that, you need to remove the heavy window treatments and clean the glass to make sure as much light as possible is coming in. Use the brightest light bulbs you can and update your light fixtures. Trim shrubs covering windows, remove old carpet from hardwood floors and remove dark, heavy furniture. Keep it simple: Get rid of your collections and sentimental things, so buyers can visualize themselves in the home.
Highlight Neighborhood Amenities
Younger buyers often are interested in schools, even if they don’t have children yet. Marketing materials should mention everything that appeals to young couples and families such as the location near commuter routes or public transportation, swimming pools, tennis courts, a gym, or nearby shops and restaurants. You need to think about what young buyers are most interested in, and then market your house accordingly. If your home has a great yard or a prime location within a subdivision close to the elementary school or a park, you should make sure that’s highlighted in your marketing as well.
Paint your Home with Neutral Colors
The old rule of thumb used to be that sellers were supposed to paint their rooms white in order to appeal to all buyers. These days, white rooms tend to look boring, especially to younger buyers. Buyers like neutral colors other than white. Young buyers like “Pottery Barn” colors. Check out their stores or a catalog, and you’ll see the palette has soft earth tones, off-whites, beige and pale gray. You don’t want super personal color choices, but you can go with a neutral and a contrasting trim color.