Recently, while I was hosting a Clovis open house near Peach and Herndon, a couple was touring the property when they commented on how important it was to find a Clovis home with a large functioning laundry room.

They were dead-set that the next home they invested in had to have an entire room dedicated to laundry, clothes, counter space, cabinets, ironing space, etc. A simple washer and dryer in a closet with closing accordion-style doors that hid everything just would not do.

WHY?

Laundry rooms are becoming increasingly more important to home buyers, and therefore more important to home builders.

“In the past few years, 30 percent of the homes we build … have a laundry room with granite countertops, a single-level kitchen-style faucet, and the laundry tub will be an undercounter sink.”

Tom Byrne, President of Chadsworth Homes Inc.

Byrne goes on to say that rooms dedicated to laundry are more popular than studies or media rooms.

Finding such a room dedicated to clothing was not going to be easy in small and medium size Fresno real estate. Typically a comfortable laundry room is going to be a feature of a newer larger home.

WHAT TO EXPECT GOING FORWARD

New laundry rooms are becoming more sophisticated as well.

For example, we’re seeing these rooms become more than just a washer and dryer and some counter space with storage. More and more, we’re seeing smaller LCD monitors wall-mounted for television and internet feeds, better lighting, recycling organizers, etc. We’re not alone in seeing these rooms kick it up a notch either.

“These rooms [laundry] are becoming larger and more multi-functional, with organizers, a table for folding, ironing stations and windows with a view.

~ Stephen Melman, Director of Economic Services for the National Association of Home Builders.

• How important is a large, multi-functional laundry to you and your family in your next home purchase?

Leave us a comment below.

With Fresno real estate, as with home across the country, kitchens sell houses.

The kitchen has become more than just the room with an oven, sink and refrigerator.

More and more the kitchen is the hub of the entire home. The kitchen is where family catches up after a long day, friends congregate when entertaining and the homework gets done in the evenings.

As trends change with how we use our homes, so too should the trends of design.

TOP KITCHEN TRENDS FOR 2010

The National Kitchen & Bath Association recently conducted a study of designers to reveal the top design trends for 2010.

The top kitchen trends for 2010 were recently reported on by Melissa Tracey on the Styled, Staged & Sold blog.

Some of the new trends to be aware of for 2010 kitchens:

Color: Shades of white and off-whites are the most common kitchen colors, followed by brown, beige, and bone hues.

Cabinetry: The most popular wood for kitchen cabinetry remains cherry, followed by maple. In the decline: Painted cabinetry and light natural finishes and distressed finishes.

Design style: Traditional is the most popular kitchen design with contemporary following closely behind.

Flooring: Ceramic and porcelain tile and natural stone remain the most popular kitchen flooring. Hardwood, however, will dominate kitchens this year more than ever.

Countertops: Granite is the most popular option, but quartz is inching up to it in popularity.

Have a kitchen remodel you want to brag about? Leave us a comment below.

TIPS TO HELP SELL YOUR HOME

We started this series of articles last Monday morning so it’s not too late to get all caught up.

PART II OF III

This is Part II of III in the series. Part I was published on Tuesday and focused on the exterior of your property.

Here we will pick up the conversation and focus on the living areas and how you can improve them in order to help your chances of a quick and profitable sale.

If you can get potential buyers through the front door, they will spend most of their visit on the inside of the building, evaluating everything from floor plan to paint color to condition of the surfaces. What follows is a list of things you should focus on that will help get that offer to purchase that you are looking for.

1. The most important room in your entire house, as far as buyers are concerned, is your kitchen. Therefore, make it bright, attractive and absolutely clean. If the kitchen is dull and out-of-date, do not expect a full-price offer to purchase. Paint is cheap and is your friend. Choose neutral colors that will appeal to a broad base of buyers. Now is not the time to paint your favorite shade of neon color.
2. If your kitchen floor is worn, put down new flooring or replace any loose tile.
3. Clean the ventilating hood above your stove top. Potential buyers will look. Don’t give them a reason to leave.
4. Remove any appliances that you keep on your counter top. This one is very hard to get sellers to do for some reason. Potential buyers don’t care to see your toaster, mixer and stained coffee maker. Besides, clean counters make the kitchen seem larger. Remove the clutter.
5. If your faucet has a slow annoying drip, get it fixed. A leaking faucet scares potential buyers.
6. Wash your windows. Get as much natural light into your home as possible.
7. Replace any broken or cracked sliding glass door or window glass.
8. If you have a wood-burning fireplace, clean it out and place some fresh logs in it to make it look inviting and functional.
9. Check every room’s ceiling for cracks and stains. Fix the cause of the damage and repaint.
10. Unclog all tub, shower and sink drains. A home inspection will catch these and call them out. It’s an easy fix and you might as well fix this now.
11. Get all sink, bathtub, shower and toilet stains removed completely. The newer and cleaner they look, the better.
12. Replace or repair all window and door screens.
13. Make sure all windows and doors open easily.
14. Make sure all burned-out light bulbs are replaced.
15. Clean out the attic, basement and garage areas and dispose of all items that are no longer needed or you will not be moving. Removing clutter here will make the property seem larger.
16. Straighten up the closets and remove excess items that will make the closets appear smaller.
17. Solve all squeaky hinges.
18. Make floors look as clean and new as possible.
19. De-personalize shelves, mantles and table tops. Potential buyers are not in your house to look at your family pictures. Neutralizing and de-cluttering the space will help those potential buyers to see their own family living there.
20. Vacuum all carpeted areas.

This is part II in a three-part series, focusing on tips that can help you sell your home. Part III in the series will appear tomorrow and focus on tips that will help you to show your home in the best possible manner.

If you have a tip that has helped you sell your home, please share. Leave us a comment below and share your secret tips.

For individual and custom help in selling your home, contact our team for a confidential appointment.

We love what we do and our clients love our dedication to their real estate cause.

How you design or redesign your small space can help your return on investment (if it is an income-producing property) or make the smaller space more fun to live (if it is your current residence).

THE PENGUIN HOUSE

If you had only 900 square feet to work with, how could design a larger feel into the property?

Here is a perfect example of what smart design can do for a small space. It is nick-named ‘The Penguin House’ and the architect has done a nice job of designing around the size limitations of:

1. 899 total square feet
2. 322 square feet of total property foot-print

You and your designers may have more room to work with than in the above example, but the concepts of The Penguin House still hold true.

• Raise ceiling height.
• Offer plenty of natural light.
• Expand the view of the rooms by using strategically placed windows.
• Light, height and sight.

photo credit: Mirage floors

A fireplace strategically placed in a home’s design can be irresistible for some home buyer’s. Commonplace is to have one in a living room setting, however, more and more of today’s homes are getting fireplaces designed into the master bedroom and / or the master bathroom. And, more and more of these fireplaces are gas burning instead of wood burning.

GAS TOPS WOOD-BURNING

The use of gas fireplaces in the U.S. now tops the use of wood-burning fireplace units. Here in the U.S., about 400,000 gas fireplace units are sold on an annual basis.

Industry experts speculate that the reason gas units are overtaking wood-burning units is probably due to convenience. An aging population and the baby boomer generation is likely going with gas over wood because they don’t want to deal with the mess and hassle of wood (the cutting, hauling, care, and expense).

THE BOTTOM LINE

If your next Fresno home redesign calls for an additional fireplace, think about going with a more convenient gas unit instead of a traditional wood-burning unit. Plus, your local air quality standards board might thank you.

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