Barton Wyatt, the leading Estate Agent in Virginia Water acts on behalf of high net worth individuals looking for homes in North Surrey and South Berkshire. Their clientele are predominantly those who will fly first class and stay in seven star hotels around the globe.

Second class is not in their vocabulary and these captains of industry, celebrities and even royalty know what they want and make sure they get it. Working with such lucrative buyers on a daily basis, the team at Barton Wyatt have used their unique insight to produce a succinct list of ‘must haves’ for every home in 2013.

Literally no one at this high-end level would consider a house without a substantial dressing room in the master suite. A recent study by De’Longhi revealed that 45% of modern women choose a walk-in wardrobe as the ultimate status symbol but Barton Wyatt would put this figure at 100% for their clients and they usually want two – a his and hers versions ideally decked out in beautiful oak paneling. A well fitted and kitted dressing room screams luxury and glamour at prospective buyers.

The latest in kitchen wizardry is the constant boiling tap. Gone are the days of waiting for the kettle to boil, at the push of a lever choose between filtered boiling and chilled water which appears almost instantly from the same tap. And it is worth mentioning that they can be more economical to run than a conventional kettle which often heats more water than is actually needed.

No home is complete without a state of the art music streaming system. Modern homes these days will have speakers cleverly sunk into the ceiling of many of your rooms. These unbelievable music systems will wirelessly manage all your music; you can create playlists and individually control the volume in every room.

The absolute luxury for those with enough space in the home is to have a Mr and Mrs bath-suite. Busy executives are likely to be dashing through the bathroom at the same time in the morning and having your own space is as good as it gets for ensuring a calm and peaceful start to the day.

A top end home would be incomplete without a wine cellar. Either designed within the basement or quite often fitted as an after build project. A watertight, pre-cast cylindrical system that´s sunk into the ground, it can be located anywhere from kitchen to conservatory, workshop to study. Built to house in the region of 1,500 bottles you might want to consider the fun you would have just filling it! 

Televisions are one of the items in most homes that have changed more than anything else in the past 10 years. Out with the old bulky CRT and in with massive flat screen 3D HD TVs. The size and sheer number of TV’s in your home will be of great importance to your children even if it is not for you. The new standard size for a home in Wentworth is nothing under 80”, however the 108” models are starting to drop in price and are the new in-thing, it will not be long before ‘whole wall’ models will become the very latest in TV fashion. And a serious show-off you might have their own private cinema room, a TV in the Jacuzzi, the end of the bath or even as a splash back on your cooker!

There is nothing more impressive to a prospective client than being met by the sight of a fabulously maintained and well thought-out garden. New homes built and not landscaped will not attract the big money. Savvy developers spend huge amounts on planting established trees, box hedging and on occasion some lavish topiary will work wonders for a sale.   With all this greenery going on a built in irrigation system will be a must to keep those lawns the perfect shade of green. The latest new homes are designed with water collection from the roofs and driveway fed into vast underground storage tanks to make sure you are as environmentally friendly as possible.

Garaging might seem a little dull and purely functional but let’s be honest if you are living in a multi-million pound home there is a good chance that you will have a few cars floating around and they need housing. The fanciest garages are hidden underground – one particularly fabulous one had a car lift to whisk the cars underground and away from prying eyes. Here below the house was parking for 4 or 5 vehicles at a car friendly temperature to keep them pristine.

Traditional homes were built with small rooms to keep them warm but with the advent of under-floor heating and huge capacity boilers small rooms are a thing of the past. The houses that race out the door at Barton Wyatt have massive super rooms up and downstairs that give houses a tremendous feeling of light and space. These rooms will incorporate a lavish kitchen, dining area and seating for many guests as well as huge master bedroom suites. 

State of the art security is all the rage for your mansion-pad. Your home might not be MI5 HQ but keeping you and the family safe is going to be a priority. With some homes designed with panic rooms, CCTV cameras littered around the grounds and a direct phone to the police, this might seem a little over the top however, for some families, especially royalty, this might be a good investment.

Busy families with busy lives often means a live-in nanny or house keeper is required to keep things ticking over and they will require accommodation. For the absolute best results staff accommodation will include its own entrance and en-suite bathroom with a kitchenette. This way both you and your staff get their own space and this living space can also be used at some point to accommodate an ageing relative or a grumpy teenager.

The drive for universal mobile phone coverage has seen masts hung from every street corner and disguised as fir trees, clocks and even church windows. Now miniature versions containing a 3G transmitter and receiver have been made available for your living room. Don’t worry the radiation levels are minimal, no more than a regular Wi-Fi router and you can connect the ‘mast’ to your router enabling it to carry the calls, emails and mobile Wi-Fi through your existing broadband connection.

Have you ever dreamed of having too much storage space? Well this is a very in-vogue thing to impress your friends. Throwing open the cupboards of your new home to show them just how much space you have has become a sign of luxury. To be bang on trend the items hanging should all match and be colour coded too!

 

For more information or advice on the 13 ‘must haves’ for your home in 2013 talk to Barton Wyatt on 01344 843 000 or visit www.bartonwyatt.co.uk.