by Charles Curran, Principal at Maskells
“Anyone who has children knows how chaotic a home can be. At some point a growing family will need to move home but this is an iterative process – the first step of which is aspirational. This usually involves looking at beautifully modernised properties, where there is no clutter, no mess and no stick men on walls.
Agents are loathed to offer photographs of childrens’ rooms, playrooms and utility rooms because this takes away from the aspirations of calm that are all part of the selling process – if you move here your life will be better, but the fact is, your life won’t be better unless your new property is designed around the kids.
Buyers who are looking at properties with more than two bedrooms will, more than likely, have kids and the homes need to be functional and need to be marketed as such.
I have three children and when looking at property the first thing that turns me off is a wonderful master on the top floor and the kids’ rooms in the basement - absolute non-starter because we need to be able to hear them at night if there is a problem. I also need to consider where the children’s bathroom is equipped with a bath, as children don’t take showers; and yet I still can’t believe the number of shower rooms I see as an agent on the same floor as the kids’ rooms. I also need to consider where the family will spend most of its time.
Children like to be where the parents are, which is usually the kitchen, so a play area/family room near the kitchen is a must. Ideally, a ‘child-free’ zone in the form of a living room where you can escape is preferable. All parents will also be looking for the maximum amount of storage, or potential to create it to hide away the clobber that comes with young children. Wonderful entertaining spaces are great to look at, but the fact is with kids, a separate dining room for example, (for all those dinner parties you plan on having) is actually rarely used.
In reality, as parents, we aspire to provide the best for our children and with that comes a great family home. We aspire to provide them with a home with functionality, warm comforting rooms, a play area and we want to try to contain the mess. An eye on the children in the marketing will always achieve a better sale.
Recently, we have recently had two houses in Chelsea in the same price range around £4m, one was beautifully interior designed with all the latest gadgets, but one of the bedrooms was in the basement and there was no play area. The other was in need of redecoration, but had all the bedrooms on the top two floors, with a separate children’s bathroom (no shower) and a lower ground floor kitchen and family area leading to a small patio garden. The former has had 50 viewings with no asking price offers and the latter sold in less than a week after only four viewings and at only 5% below asking price.
Parents may aspire to live in calm and tranquillity but the reality is that the choice of home will always be driven by what the property has to offer the kids. Once they leave home – we’ll that’s a different story!”