What is more important study or utility room?

[Tolivebythesea]

We will be selling our house soon and want to maximise its appeal. We live in an affluent village location with 60-70% of the population over 55. The house was up for sale a while back and the majority of viewers were between 50-75 years old.

The entrance is very open plan, no lobby or hall as such. We presently have a very small study not too far from the front door but not near the kitchen, it houses the desk top computer and books etc. Although the kitchen is large we do not have a utility room.

Question is what would you consider more important when buying a house a study or utility room? With the use of laptops and tablets are desk top computers and study's becoming less useful?

I'd say utility too. Some of the people in the age range you specify may have retired. We have a large kitchen but nowhere to store things like the hoover, ironing board, mops and buckets, brooms etc. Planning on extending next year, part of which will be a utility room.

But if your current study is not near your kitchen it may be a pain to access plumbing and pipework?

Well we use both, but if I had to choose I would say utility wins. But I would let the people buying it decide what to do with it and leave it as it is.

Thanks for all the replies.

The house has 4/5 bedrooms. A large kitchen 6m x 4m with room for table or sofa. It's very open plan. We don't really have anywhere great for ironing board, broom, mop, Hoover x 2. Also, as you come in the front door there isn't anywhere immediately to hang wet coats shoes, there is a cloaks cupboard a few feet away.

The study was a bathroom when we moved here so there is an outside drain but no plumbing. For our large family it's a struggle not having a utility, however the study is a quiet space to get away from the activities in the house and work quietly. The washing machine and tumble dryer are housed in a cupboard with a little storage space for clothes waiting to be ironed and iron. I suppose what I feel is when you walk in the front door there is no hall, you are just walking into a space, with the dining table across the space near the kitchen. Young city types would love it but older experienced dog walking semi retired village types will immediately think about the practicalities or lack of. Do people have desk top computers these days or is everyone on laptops/ tablets? so barely use a study.

With that many bedrooms a retired couple could have a study, a spare and a hobby room. So sounds like a utility might make more sense.

Put a really good extractor fan in there and then you can try your washing without creating damp.

I don't get what a utility room is actually for. I'm not really into hanging washing inside though, I don't think extractor fans do much to prevent damp, but we've always lived in old houses and I'm paranoid about damp/water damage. I like to do ironing in front of the telly

We have a downstairs study and a sort of large utility cupboard in the house we're buying, and had a similar set up in our old house (study was just a corner of the playroom though). The study will be half study, with a double desk for if two people want to work/sew/do homework at once and half music room as I have a ton of stringed instruments and a piano.

However, I agree with earslaps that for your target market, a utility will be more useful as an older couple without children can use the bedrooms as study and hobby rooms. People do seem to like them...

Is the kitchen already big? If not, I might be tempted to leave the study but point out the potential buyers that it gives them the space to extend the kitchen or make a utility room, then they can decide how they want the configuration.

We have a study and a utility room.
The utility room stores a massive amount of stuff/junk in it and it is used regularly every day. It is one of the most used rooms in our house.
The study has a desk and a dusty printer in it. I only go there when I am passing through it to get to the stairs.
I'd go for a utility room every time. They could easily use one of the bedrooms if they really want a study.

Anyone looking at your house who has dogs will want the utility room. This might be quite a lot of your viewers if you are marketing for semi rural with older active people. If the house is mostly open plan then you need somewhere separate to put muddy dogs after a walk. I have a similar sized house with a study and a utility room that does not adjoin the kitchen but is near the front door, and four dogs. I am fond of the study but the utility room is worth its weight in gold for its usefulness with wet dogs. I would be very, very reluctant to lose it.

Utility. It's a 4-5 bed house aimed at older demographic so like someone said they can easily have a study upstairs if needed and would still have guest bedrooms. Utility great for washing and tumble dryer, storing hovers/ extra toiletries/ cleaning crap. And ass shoe rack and coat storage so lots of space to store that out of view in hallway if tiny.