Keeping traditional features that buyers may have had in their childhood homes, like a pantry, may make it easier to sell your property.

A new survey has found that many people would love to live in homes with a pantry, a dining room or a fireplace because it reminds them of the property where their parents lived.

The Lloyds Bank Insurance survey found that of 2,000 people surveyed, one in four still call their parents’ house their own ‘home’, despite the fact that they live somewhere different.

Home psychology expert Professor Barrie Gunter, of the University of Leicester, explained that a person’s main or first childhood home is extremely influential in developing a person’s identity, and happy experiences during this period can lead adults to try to recreate them in their own homes. This is why the survey discovered that people wanted to find traditional features such as pantries and dining rooms, along with fireplaces. Dr Gunter said even something as simple as an easily accessible attic could be enough to persuade some buyers to purchase a home. If they enjoyed playing or hiding in an attic as a child, for example, they may be keen to have similar features in their adult homes.

The study found that buyers also admitted to missing items once found in their childhood homes, such as pressure cookers and record players, yet still said they were likely to fill the second home they owned with modern gadgets. A total of 86 per cent of those questioned said they had a flat-screen TV, 20 per cent said they owned a coffee machine, and almost one third of recipients said they had their own bread maker. It should come as no surprise, then, that this led to three out of five people saying that their second home felt more cluttered than their first.

Professor Gunter says, however, that people only start to feel as if a house is a home once they fill it with items which they feel define their personalities. This also extends to the way in which people choose to decorate their property and is probably why neutral decors, allowing potential buyers to see the possibilities to make their own imprint, are the most effective when it comes to selling a home.

This potential may also be enough to detract from the disappointment that, according to the Lloyds survey, many first-time buyers can feel at having to ‘downgrade’ from their parent’s home. In fact, the study revealed that more than half of all of these buyers admit to being unhappy with the first property they own, stating that this is because it does not feel like a family home or is not the home they have always dreamed of.

For help to find the property of your dreams, with as many reminders of your family home as possible, call Keywest on 0116 254 4555. Our property professionals have unrivalled local knowledge and experience in helping our clients find the right property in the right location.