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It’s time to stop thinking of Millennials as totally uninterested in owning anything
just because they were early adopters of Uber. The newly released U.S. home
ownership rate rose in 2018 for the first time in 13 years—it now stands at 64.2
percent—driven mainly by a shift toward owning over renting by the under-35
crowd who’d been wary of committing for both financial and personal reasons.
“This is happening because young households are buying homes,” Ralph
McLaughlin, chief economist at home listings provider Trulia, told the Wall Street
Journal. They’re not the only purchasers, of course. But if you’re looking to sell
your house now or in the not-too-distant future, you might want to check out
this generational roadmap of four upgrades experts say are worth it to help attract
potential buyers.
*Cross-generational: a new steel door. The only thing that beat it on
Remodeling magazine’s annual Cost vs. Value Report was loose-fill attic insulation,
but this project—with a 90.7 percent return on investment—speaks directly to
the report’s main takeaway: “Curb appeal projects, by and large, generated higher
returns on investment than work done inside the home.”
Plus, as far as Millennials go, while their ideal interiors
may differ from older generations—for example, they
prefer open floor plans and hardwood floors—
Architectural Digest says they’re still into
“traditional” exteriors.
*Millennials: Smart-home tech. Yes, there
are Boomers and Gen Xers who are super
tech-savvy, but Millennials especially crave
homes that allow them to control their heating,
air-conditioning, home security, and lighting
systems from their phones. They want to use
their brains for other things, not for remembering
whether they adjusted the heat or closed the
garage door.
*Cross-generational: A new roof. It’s the
ultimate curb appeal enhancer and buyers pay a premium
for one already in place. So if the first thing prospects notice
even before exiting their cars looks like something out of the movie “Twister,”
you’ve got a problem.
*Millennials: All-new appliances. Realtors will tell you that major kitchen
(and bath) upgrades aren’t generally worth their high costs, in terms of return
on investment, since prospective buyers’ tastes can clash with yours. However,