Buyer Wants

What is a buyer want?

What kind of home are you looking for?  I call this your buyer wants.  Do you want a condo downtown with no yard to take care of?  Or maybe a house in the country where you can raise chickens?  Is a large bathtub important to you?  Or a front yard that looks nice and has a lot of curb appeal?

My buyer wants are (1) a garage because I love my car and a place to store my excessive number of books, (2) a huge tub because there’s nothing like taking a relaxing bath at the end of the day, and (3) lots of picturesque windows.  I grew up in the country so windows are my “country in the city”.

Here are some typical buyer wants that I encounter.  Quite often buyers don’t even realize what they want until they see a house that doesn’t have it or until I mention it.

Garage

During Covid a lot of homeowners lost their jobs and their homes.  There was a huge rise in the number of renters and that led to many rental property owners converting their garages into living space so they could rent for more money.  Greed led nice family homes into being converted into large family rentals.  Large family rentals tend to include large dogs and result in a lot of neglect.

When you don’t see a photo of the garage in the NWMLS listing, be suspicious.  Even if one of your buyer wants isn’t a garage, still be concerned if the garage has been converted.  Because it may be significantly harder to sell as a family home.  It rains a lot in Washington and most families want a garage.  They need one.

Even if you find your dream home and it has a garage, will your SUV fit inside?  Many PUDs, planned unit developments, have uber small garages that don’t fit large vehicles.

Bedroom and Kitchen Windows

Planned Unit Developments (PUDs) are becoming common in Thurston County.  These are homes with tiny yards or no yards and are built right next to each other.  Some of them are literally a yard apart.  No room for a fence.  Hardly room for your garbage toter.  But perhaps the worst feature is that all of your windows face the siding on your neighbors’ homes.  That’s the view, which is…no view.

Many of these PUDs have no kitchen windows at all or a six inch high window that’s near the ceiling and lets in a sliver of light.  When you’re looking at listings and you see closed blinds and suspiciously awkward photos of rooms, it’s most likely because it’s missing bedroom and kitchen windows.  In fact, after awhile, you can spot those houses quickly when all the bedroom photos are taken from the exterior wall toward the door.  Like anyone wants that view of the room. :0

Most families spend a lot of time in the kitchen.  So don’t forget to include kitchen windows in your buyer wants.  I like standing at the kitchen window and watching the birds outside.  We have a stellar jay (a very blue bird) who builds a nest in our tree every spring.  All spring and summer long he flies around protecting the yard from cats.  If I didn’t have a kitchen window, I would never have met “security bird”, our nickname for him.  Now I’ve come to look forward to seeing him arrive in the spring.

Bathtubs

In real estate there are four parts to a bathroom–the sink, the toilet, the shower, and the bathtub.  A home with 2.0 bathrooms usually has two full bathrooms each with a sink, a toilet, a shower, and a bathtub.  A home with 1.75 bathrooms usually has one full bathroom (with a sink, a toilet, a shower, and a tub) plus a second bathroom with a sink, a toilet, and either a shower or a tub (usually a shower).  If the full bathroom is the hall bathroom and NOT the master bathroom, then you have to take a bath in the kids’ tub.  🙁  If the full bathroom is the master bathroom, then you get your own private tub, but where do you bathe the little ones or the dog?  Hmm, this creates a dilemma, doesn’t it?  Either the kids and the dog are running around the master bedroom or you’re traipsing through the house in your bath towel bath and forth to the hall bathroom.  Which is your buyer want?

Beyond having only one bathroom, there’s the PUD bathtub.  It’s usually one of those teeny tiny modular units meant for tiny people five feet tall who weigh less than a hundred pounds.  :0  The rest of us are bigger than that.  When half of you is hanging out of the tub, it’s not nearly as relaxing taking a bath.  So when you’re looking at listing photos, pay attention to the bathroom.  Are their photos of all the bathrooms?  If there are, what’s the configuration?  And where is that darned tub?  😉

Yards

There are a lot of people who love living in the city.  I’m not one of them.  I cringe when I see a house with no yards at all.  I hyperventilate when I see two houses with only three feet between them.  They literally look like they’re falling over like dominoes.  Once inside, your windows show your neighbor’s siding.  No view.  Are you claustrophobic yet?  I am.  So my buyer wants include yards.  Not just a front yard, but two side yards and a backyard too.

A typical old-fashioned Victorian family home includes a lot size of about 10,000 square feet.  A PUD (Planned Unit Development) lot is about 3,000 square feet or smaller.  That was not a typo.  I did say 3,000 square foot lot or smaller.  Shocking, isn’t it?

Let’s take a look at one of the PUDs in Lacey.  This one is in the area know for their state named streets, 6540 Indiana Street SE, Lacey.  The builder is DR Horton and the neighborhood is Horizon Pointe.  The lot size is 2,250 square feet.  Super small.  One tiny corner yard next to the alley.  It’s practically on top of its neighbors.

So what size yard do you need?  If a yard is important, then pay close attention to lot sizes when you’re looking at houses and put lot size on your buyer wants.  Also pay close attention to the photos included in the listing.  Do they look “stretched”?  If the aerial photo shows the lot size and it’s really tiny, you can bet there will be no yards or super tiny ones.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this article on Buyer Wants.  Lacey has a lot of Planned Unit Developments (PUDs) that have small garages, small tubs, small yards, and no kitchen windows.  Pay attention when you’re out there looking at houses and make a detailed list of BUYER WANTS to give to your real estate broker.