What buyers say they want and what they actually prioritize in an offer are two different things. Listing descriptions are full of "chef's kitchen" and "open floor plan" because those phrases tested well in surveys conducted years ago. This page tracks what buyers are actually calling non-negotiable in the current market, not what they said they wanted in 2022.
What is Your Non-Negotiable?
Vote below to add your data point and see where buyer priorities sit today.
What the Data Shows
The data is still forming. Enough responses have arrived to confirm that feature preferences vary significantly across buyer segments, but the sample has not yet stabilized around a clear consensus. This paragraph will update automatically once the distribution settles. Check back as more buyers vote.
Why Feature Preferences Shift With the Market
The Remote Work Structural Shift
The dedicated home office preference reflects a structural change, not a trend. Before 2020, home office was a nice-to-have that appeared in luxury listings and in marketing copy aimed at freelancers. Post-2020, a meaningful share of the workforce has permanently anchored their living situation to the assumption of remote or hybrid work.
When home office leads this index, it is not a temporary blip. It signals that a substantial portion of active buyers are filtering listings on this criterion before considering price, location, or anything else. For agents, the implication is straightforward: if a property lacks a dedicated room that can serve as an office and your target buyer is remote-work-capable, you are already starting at a disadvantage that staging and photography cannot overcome.
ADU and Rental Potential as a Financing Tool
ADU and rental potential rising in this index is a signal worth paying attention to for a different reason than the others. Buyers prioritizing this feature are not just making a lifestyle choice. They are underwriting the purchase with a rental income assumption. When carrying costs at current rates make a home payment feel unmanageable, the ADU framing turns a cost center into a partial income-producing asset.
This matters for how agents position properties. A detached garage with a bathroom, a finished basement with a separate entrance, or a guest house that has been permitted for occupancy are no longer just amenity upgrades. They are financing arguments. When ADU ranks highly in this index, that angle belongs in the first paragraph of the listing description, not the last.
What Pool Demand Actually Signals
A private pool appearing near the top of this index is a geographic and demographic signal more than a feature signal. Pool demand concentrates in Sun Belt markets and correlates with family-stage buyers who are trading up from smaller homes. When pool rises nationally in this index, it typically reflects a Sun Belt buyer cohort dominating the active search pool at that moment, not a universal shift in preferences.
For agents outside traditional pool markets, a high pool ranking is not actionable. For those in Florida, Arizona, Texas, and similar markets, it is a direct inventory signal: pool properties are receiving more initial interest than comparable non-pool properties in the current cycle.
Walkability and the Urban Return Signal
Walkable neighborhood appearing in this index represents a cohort of buyers who have concluded that the suburban experiment does not work for their lifestyle. When this category rises, it often reflects younger buyers who moved to lower-cost suburban or exurban markets during the pandemic period and are now prioritizing proximity to services, restaurants, and public transit over square footage.
This is a useful signal for agents in transitional urban neighborhoods. Buyers prioritizing walkability are typically willing to accept smaller properties, older construction, and higher price-per-square-foot if the location delivers on the criterion. Understanding when this cohort is actively searching changes the conversation about which properties to show and how to price them.
Use Feature Demand Data in Your Listings
The most effective listing agents are not guessing which features to lead with. When you know which feature is the current non-negotiable for the largest share of active buyers, you sequence your listing description, your photography order, and your open house talking points around that feature first.
LiquiChart lets you embed live poll charts directly in your market reports and client newsletters. The chart your clients see today reflects today's buyer priorities, not last year's.