By Diane Ives
MRIS, September 22, 2008-The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) 2007 Profile of Buyer’s Home Feature Preferences lists the top 10 things that buyers stated they desired in a home:Central air conditioning
Garage
Walk in closet in the master bedroom
Backyard or play area
Cable/satellite TV-ready
High speed Internet access
Separate shower enclosure in master/main bath
Patio
Fence
Home less than 10 years old
Rooms most often desired by purchasers were:
Garage
Living room
Laundry room
More than ninety percent (90%) of recent home buyers thought energy efficiency was an important consideration and more than 80 percent of homes purchased had central air conditioning (Realtor.org, 2008).
This information is going to be helpful to both buyer agents and listing agents. Listing agents will want to make sure to enter the appropriate information in Keystone when adding their listings, thereby making the listing appealing to purchasers. Buyer agents will want to know where to search in Matrix for items important to purchasers.
Customize your Matrix Search Screen to include additional fields. Find the link, “Click here to add or remove other search fields” (just below the pale blue bar). A screen called Frequently Used Fields will appear. Identify the field you want, highlight, then click Add. The desired field will be moved to the right side. Once you have found all the fields you want, click the Return to Search button (located under the list of field names on the left).
Below, find the item that purchaser’s desire in a home and its location in Matrix.
Central Air Conditioning – found in the field name “Cooling.” Energy Star Cooling System is found at the bottom of the pick list.
Garage – found on the General Matrix Search Screen in the middle column, last field in the column. If you would like to specify the type of garage, add the field “Garage Type.”
Walk in closet & separate shower enclosure – Add the field “Amenities.”
Backyard, patio, fence or play area – the “Exterior Features” field contains outside yard descriptions, “Community Amenities” displays a pick list of items found in common areas of an HOA or Condo/Coop.
Cable/Satellite TV-ready & High speed Internet Access – “TVCableComm”
Home less than ten years old – Add the field, “Year Built.”
Laundry Room – Add the field, “Room List.”
Use this knowledge of home buyer preferences during listing appointments, in pricing presentations, and in identifying properties to show. Armed with this valuable information you will demonstrate value to clients again and again.
To send feedback on this article, e-mail communications@mris.net.
Diane Ives, CRB, CRS is anMRIS instructor.
