Home buyers love to get the most space for their money. In fact, a recent survey conducted by SunTrust revealed that 66 percent of millennials cited more living space as the top reason for purchasing a house.
So, if you’re selling a home with a bonus bedroom, a finished basement or an extra-large landing on the second floor that could be used for something, you’re adding a lot of extra value.
You just want to make sure you’re really highlighting the potential of that space to buyers. Here, realtor.com offers some strategic staging tips to make your flex space shine.
1. Don’t give rooms a split personality
For optimal results when selling, you’ll want to execute a single theme in your bonus room.
For instance, someone who craves a spot to paint landscapes probably doesn’t want one that also has an elliptical trainer and a bed. You want potential buyers to be able to imagine themselves in your house.
2. Consider a yoga studio or gym
The number of Americans practicing yoga and meditation has increased substantially in the past couple of years, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Therefore, staging your bonus space as the ideal spot to get healthy makes it an attractive and budget-savvy alternative to the gym. When buyers come across a home that has a meditation or yoga room—a calming, Zen kind of place—people’s gut reaction is how they wish they had one as well.
Be sure to keep the decor simple: a yoga mat or two, some plants and a nook in the corner piled with comfy pillows.
Another appealing use is a home gym, complete with rubber mats, a water cooler and mirrored walls. But skip the giant stair-climbing machine if the room has low ceilings—it will only draw attention to that feature.
3. Get crafty
If you’re passionate about a certain hobby and can showcase your bonus space attractively, do so. After all, a study by the Pew Research Center showed that 1-in-5 Americans finds hobbies make their lives more meaningful.
Some home seekers likely would fall in love with a house that offers an organized sewing and crafting space, for example.
Buyers also value extra storage everywhere, so built-in storage is a great asset for a hobby space. Other good ideas? Abundant lighting, an industrial-style long table, and freestanding bookshelves.
4. Gear up for a gaming room
A recent survey by the Entertainment Software Association reported that 65 percent of U.S. households regularly play video games.
So, it makes sense that buyers who love gaming will appreciate a space with plenty of electrical outlets that can accommodate consoles or charge wireless joysticks, gaming computers even vintage arcade machines.
Make sure the space is large enough to accommodate a table with about 3 feet around every side to give people enough room to get around each other.
5. Trick out an office with awesome storage
With more and more Americans telecommutinge, home offices have become highly desirable. But don’t just stick an inexpensive desk in a room, put a lamp on it and call it an office.
Create the type of office where people can picture themselves producing their best work, replete with some tall storage with lots of well-designed shelving and a small seating area.
6. Create a dream closet and dressing room
According to the National Association of Home Builders, more than 40 percent of first-time home buyers consider a walk-in closet essential.
So, if your home’s master bedroom is lacking storage, consider spending about $1,500 to transform an adjacent bedroom into walk-in closet with tons of hanging space and shoe cubbies, and maybe even a storage island in the center of the room.
7. Declutter and depersonalize
Spare rooms that just showcase piles of things you can’t find space for is a sure-fire way to tank a sale, no matter how great your home is.
People might understand if you have a cluttered garage, but if your third bedroom is full of boxes, it’s difficult to get past that cluttered impression.
8. Stage your space authentically
If you’re new empty nesters planning on moving to a condo, you might be tempted to stage your home so a young family sees themselves there. But resist the temptation to re-do the entire house.
You want to appeal to as many buyers as possible, but you don’t want to fake a playroom if you don’t have children. Similarly, if you’re not an artist, staging a bedroom as a bright art studio also won’t work.