We’ve been covering trends in residential real estate and interior design for many years here at Louisville Homes Blog. What’s important to you is important to us! Certainly, they’ll come up during our Homearama coverage. But you can also learn about them from time to time when addressing home sales volume and speed.
What we’ve never talked about is what people don’t want in their new Louisville home. But that’s our job today!
This MarketWatch piece pulled data from National Association of Home Builders surveys. I thought it’d be interesting to highlight what once was hip and trendy, but is now yesterday’s news and headed for the trash heap.
Without further ado, here are the Top 10 least desirable home features for 2015.
#10: Carpet on Main Level
Maybe this photo is unfair but it really conveys the message, doesn’t it? Carpet, especially longer shag carpets or overly bold colors, is not something people want on their home’s primary level.
#9: Whirlpool Tub in Master Bath
What once was a sought-after luxury is now seen as a rarely used waste of space. I can’t tell you how many homes I’ve been in where the owner says something like, “Yeah, we really thought we would have used it more often.”
#8: Neighborhood Walking Trails
Maybe it’s the number of nearby parks. Maybe it’s just that people don’t want to be outdoors as much anymore. Interesting to see this item fall down the list of priorities for new home “must-haves.”
#7: Two-story Foyer
Anytime you use second-floor space to create higher ceilings on the first floor it is costly. Today’s new construction buyers are putting this concept on the least desirable new home features list along with two-story family rooms, as you’ll see below.
#6: Media Room
Sure they’re “cool” but are they worth it? “Not anymore,” say buyers today.
#5: Two-story Family Room
As we mentioned above, high ceilings are great (and still desired) but not when they’re using up valuable space on the second floor. It’s just not very efficient.
#4: Sunroom
I’m surprised people still want a sunroom at all! It’s like they’re indoor spaces that are just poorly constructed. There’s also increased maintenance and higher utility bills, depending on the situation.
#3: Outdoor Fireplace
Here’s another feature that you might find in a luxury new build that most people are saying is not worth it today. Nice to have but perhaps not worth the cost.
#2: Laminate Countertops in Kitchen
If new construction buyers don’t want to spend dollars on other luxury items, here’s one they do—kitchen counters. It appears that laminate simply will not do. There have been great strides in the design of more attractive laminate options but today’s buyers want more.
#1: Outdoor Kitchen
The king of unnecessary, unneeded, and unwanted new home features is the outdoor kitchen. People would rather spend money on making the home’s primary kitchen awesome and forget having an outdoor one altogether. Well, perhaps we’ll just toss a stand-alone grill on the patio.
