JUDY MOSES
People want space

A home without a large garage just doesn’t feel like home.

That appears to be the sentiment of most buyers who responded to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors. Some 57 percent of buyers who purchased a home last year considered an oversize garage to be very important, according to group’s 2007 Profile of Buyers’ Home Feature Preferences.

More than half of the buyers who purchased homes without a garage that could accommodate two or more cars said they would have paid more for a home with that feature. That’s a significant jump from the 6 percent of buyers who said, in a similar survey done in 2004, they would have shelled out more money for an oversize garage.

Other sought-after home features include air conditioning, a walk-in closet in the master bedroom, hardwood floors and granite countertops. Three out of four survey respondents ranked air conditioning as a very important feature.

Local brokers agree that hardwood floors and air conditioning appear to be desirable features. Walk-in closets and large garages are also pluses.

But Judy Moses, a broker who serves Brookline, Newton and some Boston neighborhoods, said it’s tough to find homes with walk-in closets and large garages in parts of the Bay State where the housing stock is older.

“If they’re an urban buyer, they’re not going to get walk-in closets and garages,” said Moses, who owns Pathway Home Realty Group in Brookline. “I think we would all love a walk-in closet. I think we would all love a two-car garage or a three-car garage, but we have to cope with reality if we want to be this close to the city.”

Instead, Moses said the buyers she works with seek homes with more than one bathroom, and some type of outdoor space such as a deck or porch. Fireplaces and updated kitchens and baths also are key selling points, she said.

These days, buyers also seem more interested in lower-level or basement playrooms for children. Several years ago, home searchers weren’t as interested in basement rooms, she said. But now because lower-level makeovers include better lighting and higher-end finishes, many basement rooms are more inviting, Moses explained.

“They’re coming into vogue again,” she said. “I think it’s because people are looking for any additional living space they can get.”

Hardwood Hot

The NAR survey, which asked about 75 room features and room types, was mailed to 40,000 buyers nationwide who bought a home in 2006. The survey generated 2,530 responses.

According to the 2007 profile, more buyers viewed hardwood floors as a very important feature compared to the profile done three years ago. In fact, hardwood floors and granite countertops each gained 7 percentage points from the 2004 survey.

“Everyone wants hardwood floors,” said Ronn Huth, a buyer’s agent and owner of Wenham-based Buyers Choice Realty.

Before, homes with some hardwood flooring in the main living areas and wall-to-wall carpeting in the bedrooms were adequate for most buyers. But now, buyers on the North Shore often talk about tearing out carpeting and other types of flooring and replacing it with hardwood, Huth said. “Now they want hardwood all around [the house],” said Huth.

Buyers looking at newly constructed or remodeled homes expect granite countertops, he said, and most buyers want an open floor space. “That seems to be something that’s really attractive to buyers around here,” he said.

Most buyers’ focus on amenities depends on what they can afford. “A buyer’s expectations are often tempered by the available housing stock in a particular price range,” said Bob Simone, an exclusive buyer’s agent with Buyer’s Network Inc. in Canton.

Simone said buyers who are searching for properties in the $500,000 range or higher expect to find a property with a garage, as well as a newer kitchen and bathrooms.

But first-time buyers who have tighter budgets are less likely to find homes with those features. They tend to focus on location, size and overall condition, according to Simone.

Still, Huth has noticed that more and more buyers seem to want air conditioning, or at least a home where it’s easy to install a central air conditioning system.

For homebuyers in the South and Midwest, central air conditioning seems to be a necessity. According to the NAR survey, 91 percent of buyers in the South and 81 percent in the Midwest said air conditioning was a very important feature.

Of the buyers who purchased a home without central air conditioning, 65 percent said they would be willing to pay a median $1,880 extra for it.

The survey pointed out some regional buyer preferences. In the South, 66 percent of buyers valued a walk-in closet in the master bedroom, while 61 percent of Midwesterners and 66 percent of buyers in the West said they wanted oversize garages.

A majority of respondents in the West, 59 percent, also reported that they viewed central air conditioning as very important.

In the Northeast, the highest percentage of buyers, 53 percent, placed a premium on a backyard or play area, followed by central air conditioning at 41 percent.

Most buyers appeared willing to improve their homes to better suit their needs. According to the survey, nearly six out of 10 buyers said they remodeled or made home improvements within three months of buying their home.

Of those buyers, close to half updated their kitchen and nearly half remodeled or improved their bathroom.

New homeowners spent a median of $4,350 on home improvements or remodeling projects within three months of their purchase, according to the profile.