Character homes get wronged in two directions: undervalued by agents who only see square footage and old plumbing, or oversold to buyers nobody prepared for what a hundred year old house honestly needs. Either way, the home and its people lose.
Jenn Kikel-Lynn is a fourth generation Murray resident who founded the Murray City Downtown District. She does not just sell these streets. Her family helped live them.
Talk about your homeOld homes reward the agent who understands them and punish the one who does not. Four things done differently here.
Original woodwork, period detail, and a documented past carry real market value with the right buyers. The valuation captures what the spreadsheet misses.
Character homes have a devoted buyer pool that ordinary marketing never reaches. The story of the home gets told to the people looking for exactly that story.
Systems, foundations, and the realities of a century old structure get discussed plainly on both sides of the deal, so nobody inherits a surprise.
Knowing what to touch and what to leave alone before selling is half the value of a character home. Original often outsells updated when it is presented right.
Jenn is a fourth generation resident of Murray, and she turned that heritage into work: founding the Murray City Downtown District, a nationally affiliated Main Street community anchored in the historic downtown established in 1902, serving as its Volunteer Executive Director, and earning the Spirit of Main Street Award at the 2026 Utah Main Street Awards.
When your home's story matters to its sale, it helps when your broker is part of the same story.
The value lives in things a standard comparable analysis ignores: original details, period character, the home's documented story, and a buyer pool that seeks those exact qualities. Selling one well means valuing the character, marketing to the right audience, and being honest about what an older structure needs.
By combining the standard market data with what it cannot see: the condition and originality of period features, the depth of the character home buyer pool, and the neighborhood's trajectory, which in Murray's historic core has been strengthened by a decade of downtown revival work. The character gets priced in, not ignored.
Carefully, and often less than you think. Modernizing the wrong things can strip the very value character buyers pay for. The walk-through separates what genuinely helps, usually systems and safety, from what hurts, usually anything that erases the period soul of the house.
A nationally affiliated Main Street community founded by Jenn to preserve and revive Murray's historic downtown, established in 1902. The district's work supports the historic core's businesses, buildings, and story, and it earned the Spirit of Main Street Award at the 2026 Utah Main Street Awards.
Yes, Utah has an active preservation community, and programs exist that support historic properties depending on the home and the project. Jenn is grant writing trained and connected to the preservation world through the downtown district work, and she can point owners toward the right starting places for their specific home.
One conversation about your home, its character, and what it is honestly worth to the buyers who want exactly what it is.
Start the conversation