Spare Bedrooms Should Remain Flexible for Home Sales

When preparing a home for sale, real estate professionals recommend keeping spare bedrooms flexible and multipurpose to attract a broader pool of buyers. Fiona Dogan, a real estate agent at Julia B. Fee Sotheby's International Realty, emphasizes that the goal is to allow potential buyers to envision the space serving various needs, such as a nursery, home office, gym, or guest room. This versatility can appeal to multigenerational households, remote workers, and investors, potentially leading to a faster and more profitable sale.

Overly customized spare bedrooms can deter buyers by creating mental hurdles, according to Amanda Valente, co-founder and COO at Renovation Sells. If a room is transformed into a highly specific space, like a dedicated home office with custom cabinetry, a buyer who doesn't require that exact functionality may see it as an unnecessary expense to remodel. John Salvatore Gelfusa, president and CEO of HomeWorks cgo Inc., noted that while converting spare rooms into home offices was popular during the work-from-home surge of the COVID-19 pandemic, current buyers might view such extensive customizations as something they would need to undo, thus increasing their perceived cost of the home.

The key takeaway for sellers is to present the spare bedroom as a adaptable space that buyers can tailor to their individual lifestyles. While the room should appear well-maintained and presentable, it should avoid being designed around a single, specific lifestyle. This approach maximizes the perceived potential of the room, making it more attractive to a diverse range of prospective homeowners and ultimately enhancing the home's marketability.