Home features survey

People may be paying more at the gas pumps these days, but, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), that has not kept oversized garages from being a high priority among homebuyers.

Since the last survey in 2004, oversized garages saw the biggest growth in terms of what buyers consider "very important," increasing 16 percentage points to 57 percent. Among buyers who purchased homes without this feature, 56 percent said they would have paid more for an oversized garage, compared with only 6 percent in the 2004 survey.

Also considered "very important" by homebuyers were:

**air conditioning (75 percent),
**a walk-in closet in the master bedroom (53 percent),
**hardwood floors (28 percent),
**granite countertops (23 percent),
**cable/satellite TV-ready (46 percent) and
energy efficiency (65 percent among new-home buyers, 39 percent among buyers of existing homes).

For more information on these and other findings, read the NAR’s summary of its "2007 Profile of Buyers’ Home Feature Preferences."