Who do we prepare the apartment for? Target group dilemmas
After the demolition of a small apartment in my boutique hostel in Újlipótváros, which closed at the end of 2019, I still had 100 sqm left to do something with. Together with my Home Stager partner Zsófi Farkas-Gyertyánági, we encountered a lot of dilemmas during the six months of the project. The first and most important question, which is the alpha and omega of any real estate investment/development project, is: “Who is the apartment for?” Once we have decided this, we know how to design the dwelling to best serve the needs of our target group. Deciding on the target group is sometimes very simple. A one-bedroom apartment on the 3rd floor of a building without elevator in a university neighbourhood in the city centre could certainly be the ideal home for a student, bought by his parents to give him a place to live during his university years and then rented out later – and therefore a good long-term investment.
However, there are apartments where the situation is not so clear. The ideal target group is determined by a combination of many factors: the neighbourhood (are there schools, kindergartens, health facilities or entertainment venues nearby?), the residents, the condition of the house (e.g. is it elevator accessible, is it handicapped accessible), the characteristics of the apartment (balcony, street/yard, how big are the rooms, where do they face etc.) and last but not least the available money/time and energy. In our case, Újlipótváros is as much home to middle-class intellectual families as it is to the upper class looking for a luxury apartment or even artists.
Half of the 100 sqm property left over from our ex-hostel is made up of two beautiful spacious bright south-east facing rooms facing the street, but the other half (two bathrooms, original kitchen, pantry) overlooks the ‘lichthof’ and is quite dark (and quiet). This design was perfect for a hostel, because the kitchen – the hub of social life – didn’t let out enough noise to disturb the residents of the apartment building. On the other hand, when we want to build an apartment of 100 sqm, we need three rooms, so we had to turn the kitchen into a room. But who moves into a room with a view of the courtyard? Probably not many people would live there permanently, so we had to let go of families as a target group and go in the luxury direction, targeting prospective buyers, couples or even singles who are looking for a representative apartment in a well-maintained house in Újlipótváros without children and who would prefer to keep the back room as a guest room. So this room also has a private bathroom and a walk-in closet, “upgrading” the back half of the apartment into a complete little apartment.
And, of course, we agreed with Zsófi that it might not be often that we get the chance to create a luxury home with high-end furniture, decor and beautiful chandeliers. So – although the target group and thus the floor plan were born out of necessity – we set about creating a fancy apartment.
Regardless, there may be people who choose the back bedroom as their main bedroom because it is darker and quieter than the front bedroom. Either way, the apartment will find the buyer for whom it is the perfect choice. We are excited to see who it will be!
Photo by Áron Erdőháti