Ask anyone currently searching for a new house what their ideal home would look like, and you’re likely to be given a litany of wants, desires, and requests.

Of course, purchasing a new home is expensive, so it needs to be perfect.

Perfectly located and sized with up-to-date modern features and amazing extras, all of which need ticking off the proverbial wish list before, as buyers, we even think of signing on the dotted purchase agreement line.

What we expect from our homes has evolved over time.

From the humble caveman whose simple list consisted of somewhere warm and dry and access to a nearby firepit to the more modern man who desired brick and mortar buildings, indoor loos, gas cookers, central heating, and the much-loved avocado bathroom!

Fast forward a few decades, and today’s present homeowner requires all the above and more, minus the green décor!

Enter the age of working from home and the urgency to reduce our carbon footprints and environmental impact.

Suddenly, you have homebuyers looking for houses with office space and green home features rolled into a neat package that caters to their every convenience.

While summer houses, dining rooms, and conservatories still languish on every buyer’s dream home list, they are somewhere near the bottom, making room for garden offices, open-plan living areas, and green energy solutions like underfloor heating.

Let’s review the main selling points today’s homebuyers look for when considering a new home.

Selling Points On The Increase And Decline

Below is a list of selling points that have increased or decreased in popularity on today’s homebuyer’s wish list.

5 Main Selling Points For Homes in 2022

Smart Home Features

Reducing their carbon footprint and environmental impact is a priority for many potential modern homeowners.

As such, smart home features such as air-source heat pumps, underfloor heating, and solar energy systems are all attractive draw cards for those of us looking to buy or sell our homes.

Add to this the overwhelming need to reduce our overall cost of living in today’s unstable economic climate, and all of a sudden green home features make a lot of sense.

This is probably why most people looking to purchase a home see these smart ‘green features’ as a number one key requirement rather than a ‘nice to have’ benefit.

Garden Office Space

Once considered a luxury, garden office space has become a necessity due to changed working patterns courtesy of the Covid pandemic.

Nowadays, flexible work patterns that incorporate working from home and the office mean that many office workers need a dedicated work space from which to operate.

Unfortunately, smaller homes don’t have the indoor elbow room to accommodate this, resulting in the popularity of garden office space surging to the top of the wish list for those searching for larger homes.

However, these aren’t converted garden sheds furnished with dad’s old pc desk and mom’s spare heater; many homes currently on sale, offer garden office space hooked up to electrical mains, heating, and wifi.

Orangery

Typically built from brick, these handy home extensions aren’t made primarily from glass like traditional conservatories, making them the perfect solution for optimizing limited living space.

In addition, those in the market for a new home are attracted to homes with an orangery due to their versatility and practicality.

Easily converted into an additional recreation or work area, an orangery can also be used as a gym, home office, or playroom.

Bi-folding doors

Who doesn’t like the idea of extending their indoor living space into the great outdoors?

This is precisely the flexibility bi-fold doors provide for homeowners looking to expand their living area seamlessly when needed.

A bi-fold door is made from panels that fold like a concertina up against the wall.

This allows for more space than a conventional single-leaf door can provide and enables you to make the most of your indoor space.

For many potential homeowners, bi-fold doors rank high on their wish list when searching for their forever homes.

Open-plan layout

Open-plan layouts provide homeowners additional space and flexible work and living areas; often something a separate dining room simply cannot offer.

In addition, open-plan homes are usually lighter, brighter, and more spacious than traditional homes with segregated reception rooms.

Furthermore, purchasing a home with an open-plan layout means additional refurbishment isn’t necessary when strategically utilizing indoor space.

Other Top House Selling Features

Aside from the top five selling points mentioned above, many potential home purchasers also look for the following features when drawing up their list of ideal home must-haves.

Updated kitchen and bathrooms

Almost all homebuyers see properties with updated bathrooms and kitchens as their most cost-effective option when purchasing a home.

Unfortunately, an outdated kitchen or bathroom represents a costly refurbishment in the future which most first-time homeowners will want to avoid.

Wireless connectivity

Today’s modern family lives by their internet connectivity. Unlike the caveman who was happy with a smoke signal or two, modern families expect their homes to meet their technological expectations.

So it should be no surprise to learn that homes with poor internet reception, Wifi connectivity, or mobile reception are not very attractive to the modern homeowner.

Often a cheap solution such as installing a signal booster can eliminate these issues and act as a major draw card for potential homebuyers.

Exterior lighting

Outdoor lighting is significantly attractive for those buying a new home; in fact, it should be at the top of the list of new home requirements!

For most homebuyers, adequate outdoor lighting enables outdoor entertainment, provides security, and makes a home more attractive and welcoming to visitors.

Conclusion

If you want to sell your home in the future, ensuring your property meets the demands of the modern homebuyer’s wish list is imperative as it’s often the fine line between a ‘for sale’ or ‘sold’ sign.

If you’d like to find out more about how Ashtons can help you contact one of our branches for further information.