Marketing Your Home to Families
By: Leslie Pandey, Senior Content Writer/Editor | May 21, 2008
Today’s Wiki Wednesday Feature: Selling Your Home When You Have Young Children
Considering how volatile the market is right now, sellers are doing everything they possibly can to make their homes more appealing to potential buyers. Buyers, on the other hand, can afford to be choosy.
Thinking about putting your home on the market? Consider the target audience for your home. If your home is in a desirable school district, families with children (or those thinking about having kids in the future) will be zeroing in on your neighborhood. Or maybe the schools in your area have special programs that those in other areas don’t have. That also makes your home a prime spot for families. Even if you don’t have children, this is the time to start thinking like a parent.
The title of this week’s featured article, Selling Your Home When You Have Young Children, is a bit misleading. It’s actually more geared to selling your home to families with young children. The article, which was written by the “Home Loan Guru” of Quicken Loans, offers some good advice for sellers. The main piece of advice: Consider childproofing your home. Childproofing is fast, easy, and inexpensive. It’s also a subtle way for your home to appear safer – and ultimately more suitable – to parents.
A few quick childproofing fixes featured in the article:
- Cabinet locks. Install these in areas where potentially dangerous items are stored, such as the cabinet under the kitchen sink.
- Appliance locking straps. These easy to install items prevent kids from opening ovens, dishwashers and toilets.
- Fireplace gate. Fire = hot = ouch! Living room fireplaces are a common fixture in many homes, particularly newer ones. This preventative measure can help allay the initial fears of people viewing your home.
Read more tips on childproofing your home here.
More childproofing links:
12 Safety Devices to Protect Your Children (U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission)
Childproof Your Home(WebMD)
Babyproof Your Garden (Gurgle.com)
Ed: Wiki Wednesdays is a weekly feature that highlights helpful or interesting articles from the Real Estate Guide.
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ideal4investors on May 22, 2008 7:03 am
If you live in a family friendly neighborhood, this important. Make sure your realtor also plays up the “pros” in the description (such as great cul-de-sac for the kids to ride their bikes). When we bought our current home 2-/2 years ago, we had a newborn and a 2 year old. You can bet we were looking for a home that was childproofed or could easily be childproofed.