3 Features That First-Time Homebuyers Are Looking for in 2020

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Are you planning to sell your home in 2020? If you want to make your home more appealing to potential buyers, continue reading and discover a few of the most notable features first-time homebuyers are looking for today.

Modern bathrooms and kitchens

The younger generations of homebuyers today are especially interested in updated kitchens and bathrooms. Understand that you will be at a major disadvantage to other home sellers if your kitchen and bathroom(s) are outdated. Many sellers today will invest in new countertops and bathroom fixtures before they list their homes on the market.

Energy-Efficient Features

The younger generations of homebuyers are especially interested in energy-efficiency. In addition to being good for the environment, energy-efficient appliances can save a homeowner a considerable amount of money on their utility bills over time. Examples of such include LED lighting, energy star-rated refrigerator, low-flow plumbing fixtures, double-paned windows, and additional layers of insulation in the attic. Don’t be afraid to highlight any energy-efficient features you have in your home listing.

Open Floor Plans

Many first-time homebuyers today are interested in open floor plans. These buyers do not want to be confined to small rooms inside of their homes. They want large spaces that provide functionality. This is why many home sellers today have been knocking down walls before listing their home for sale. It is especially beneficial to eliminate any walls blocking the living room from the kitchen. People today want to be able to interact with each other from these two rooms.

HUD Foreclosures

HUD foreclosures and VA Foreclosures are some of the best homes to buy when price is part of the equation. As with most Americans, price is always a concern. If not buying the same house for less, why not buy more house for the same dollar invested? When looking for a good deal it is hard to do better than the VA or HUD foreclosures market. The simple truth is that there are just more VA and HUD homes on the market, as they represent such a large number of mortgages that are generated each year. This translates into more foreclosures just by the magnitude of difference between all others comparing to the two largest.

The two largest also being government owned and operated means that they have less time to wait to make money back on the home. The FHA is especially known for selling HUD homes for less than the average sales price in a given area. FHA foreclosures represent a fraction of HUD but they are still a significant number of homes and both should be considered.

VA (Veterans Administration) and HUD (Housing and Urban Development) have different and unique opportunities for the buyer. Both are often forgiven for the local taxes normally associated with the purchase of a home (this is on a county by county basis). Be sure to ask the local title company or escrow company to look into it for you before closing as this is often missed due to their are not used to dealing with the 2 to 3 percent of the market that VA and HUD foreclosures represent.

Foreclosure Listings Increasing

As the market settled after the mortgage meltdown foreclosure listings also settled and fewer homes were on the market with a placard reading “Bank Foreclosure” in big red lettering. This was a good thing for the entire real estate market. Having an abundance of foreclosures brings the entire market down and it makes it harder for home owners, who would like to move, to get the appropriate price for their home as a similar home down the same street was sold for substantially less and the appraiser is using the foreclosure as a comparable sale.

This is just one of the problems when there are too many foreclosure listings in any area. Another issue is the television set that sits in everyone’s living room harping about the price of homes based on the number of foreclosures and this constant barrage of negative information makes most people sit on the sidelines waiting for the market to either implode completely or to correct itself. Meanwhile while they wait, others are buying foreclosure listings and making great investments.

Whatever the reason, a market can only handle so many foreclosure listings at any given time. The more foreclosures, the lower the market gets and this is a lesson the banks that were foreclosing and selling off realized too late. The market and their investments would have been better off if there had not been a rush to divest themselves of the toxic assets made more toxic by their own actions.