Essential guides and advice Selling A House? Find A Market

Date Published:

21/05/2008

Growing Family Units

The next market category is probably the most space-hungry. The growing family will almost certainly favour a house over an apartment, require separate divisions of space for privacy and comfort, prefer a larger garden, and want to live in an area not overwhelmingly populated by drug dealers and prostitutes.

The average parent will by this stage know far too much about sleep deprivation, and this is partly why a larger parental bedroom - preferably with en suite and maybe even dressing and lounging around space away from the horror of whining plastic toys - will appeal.

This division of space extends to bathrooms. Wherever possible ensure that Mum and Dad get an en suite and the kids get to monopolise the family bathroom to avoid early morning rush hour snarl-ups. Parking facilities may now have to extend to accommodate a people carrier as well as the workday runabout. Storage will be at a premium as Mum hordes all the baby things for the next generation of sprogs to enjoy, and Dad still stubbornly refuses to sort through his expansive and obsolete vinyl collection.

Kids' rooms will begin to metamorphosise from sweet kitsch little spaces to private sovereign territory. Parents at this stage of their property ownership do not want to be seen as aspirational. They want to have arrived and occupy precisely the kind of home and exactly the kind of lifestyle that others aspire to. Amenities must be near or at least easy to reach. Swimming pools are a definite wink feature.

Downsizers

When at last the family home seems empty and most of its space redundant now that the kids have finally left home, the householder might well consider downsizing.

Downsizers are generally looking for ease, and a little more money to play with. A smaller home will mean less upkeep, less outlay and will also provide more variety of location as the householder begins to look ahead to retirement and endless baby sitting duties for their children's children.

The downsizer does not want to compromise on quality however. Quality and reliability is still perceived as paramount by this portion of the market, and what is lost in space will have to be made up for in terms of efficiency. Think classic, common sense design - this home should be a treat in a couple's later years, not a compromise.

Downsizers might choose to be much more central than they did while rearing kids. Proximity to arts centres, sporting venues, parks, and a better class of eatery may be important. Other will prefer a quieter life beside areas of outstanding natural beauty.

For those thinking ahead beyond their active retirement, a home with little or no stairs and with an easily accessible bathroom might be important. Bungalows remain exceptionally popular with buyers despite what has long been considered a fuddy-duddy image.

Buyers moving to downsize will have an entire lifetime of possessions to condense into their new lifestyle, so it's probably better to avoid going for too much styling in order to appeal to the widest possible market.