I visited a home recently that had an interesting mix of over and under updated features.

Overall, the home was quite beautiful.  The finishes were well done and attractive.  Honestly, it showed better than the photos… and that is a good thing, the photos weren’t bad.

The yard was amazing.  The only issue I could find is that it would require too much care for MY lifestyle, but it was wonderful to walk around the paths and see the ponds, gardens and various areas.

But then there was the kitchen…  1990 called and they want their kitchen back…  It didn’t live up to the rest of the house.

What to do?

If you are selling your home, and you want to maximize the price and minimize the time on market, the Kitchen is the MOST important room to use to WOW your buyer.  The next most important room is the Master Bath.  Of course, the rest of the house can’t fail to live up to those rooms, but those are the stars…

Solid surface counters, black or stainless steel appliances, neat, clean and organized cabinets.  Those are the keys to the kitchen.

The Master Bath is a little trickier… But, to start, make sure that it is clean, no wall paper and devoid of builder grade fixtures…  Chrome is usually bad…

This home was both over and under updated…

The kitchen was a throwback… it killed the deal.  The rest of the house almost brought it back… and the buyers were almost ready to hire the seller to do the landscaping for the home they eventually buy.  As with the yard, which was tweaked to the hilt, the house was “fully developed”.  And as such, it lacked storage space and unfinished areas.

There will be a buyer for it…  And they will be getting a great deal if the house suits them.

If you are selling your house, put yourself in the shoes of the buyer…  We’ll be talking about this more over the next few weeks…