A house can have all the luxury necessities: in home theater, radiant heating, a wine cellar, extensive hardscape, but if the kitchen is weak, the house won’t sell. When a house has been on the market for too long, very often the feedback to the listing agent is: “The house showed really well, but they just didn’t like the kitchen”.
A fundamental problem may be one that would be hard (and expensive!) to fix: perhaps the kitchen is simply too small. Today’s buyers want large, open, and airy kitchens. They have no need for formal dining rooms, rather they want a long center island with counter seating, room for a large dining table, comfortable seating, and preferably walls of windows and a great view. If you are selling a house that was built prior to 1990, what are you to do?
- 1. Find out if it can be opened up. Sometimes the best thing to do is admit that it’s an issue and pay a contractor or an architect to create some plans for opening up the kitchen. Sometimes, just knowing that the Buyer can get what they want, and roughly how much it will cost, will make the difference.
- 2. Take out some cabinets. Open display shelves are very popular right now, and sometimes removing the top row of cabinets can make the room look larger.
- 3. Remove the island. “Wait, you say, you just got finished saying the Buyer WANTS a center island!” Yes, but in some case,s the removal of the center island will create the illusion of roominess. When they buy your house, they can get a nice furniture island.
- 4. Make sure you have the best of the best. If you are selling a small kitchen in a higher price range, make sure you aren’t skimping on cabinet and appliance quality – spend the money on the best countertops and don’t ignore the floor! It’s cheaper to freshen up a small er kitchen than it is to start knocking down walls.
- 5. Lower the price. If you have been on the market longer than 45 days in this market and the feedback points out the weakness of your kitchen, the best thing you can do is lower the price until you find that sweet spot where your price is so competitive the Buyers are willing to overlook your small kitchen!
