Lots of listings include stainless steel appliances and marble counters, but what really sells houses in Seattle? Zillow Digs ran the numbers and Bloomberg Business reported on them. In Seattle, what really matters is Craftsman homes and heated floors.
Instead of relying on anecdotes, ZIllow Digs dove into the data to find which features help houses sell in cities across the country. Stainless steel may sell well in Chicago, but that's no reason to apply that lesson to the Atlantic Coast, the South, and the Pacific Northwest. Maybe shiny stoves do help sell, but each city has its own style. In Seattle, the two biggest influences were Craftsman and heated floors.
Craftsman homes remind us of a balance between minimalism, but executed with quality that touches on artistry. Elements are added with a purpose. Ornamentation is included, but not to the point that it becomes obstructive. Simple useful porches, built-in bookcases, picture rails, and nicely framed windows and doors elevate a house above being a box without adding so much detail that it becomes a confusion.
Heated floors are more pragmatic. We don't get the cold weather of the Midwest or the Northeast, but a few months of grey skies can make getting out of bed hard to do when the floor is cold. Cold feet dive back under covers quickly. Besides, heated floors are quieter than forced air, let you put furniture anywhere, and work slowly but inexorably - kind of like our weather (at least compared to the more blizzardy parts of the country.)
Stainless steel and marble, each of the elements lauded in listings do make a difference; because, just as each region has individual style, so does each house, and each buyer. Though, we can be pretty sure that the subway tiles that are popular in Philadelphia won't find much of a home here.
· Homes with 'Subway Tiles,' 'Barn Doors' or 'Farmhouse Sinks' [Zillow Digs]
· Design Features Sell Your Home Faster [Bloomberg]