The Trap of "Resale Value"

Buyers famously like to take note of anything they can use to negotiate the price of a property in their favour. To give a seller their best shot, their agent may recommend things like painting over an aqua feature wall or swapping out a few light fixtures to freshen up the place. I like to call these quirks “distractions”. We don’t want to distract the buyers from the good qualities of the property. 

I'll never forget my first listing as a brand new Real Estate agent in 2011, I had to politely suggest my client put away the overwhelming amount of photos and posters of a man I had presumed to be their son but was in fact their cult leader (yes, this is a true story) ... This certainly would have been a distraction to prospective buyers.

In more recent times, I've worked as a designer to help sellers do a small refresh on their home to make it competitive in a tough market. This is where resale value and knowing what makes a difference to prospective buyers comes in handy. You can put elements in the property that will look “fresh” to the buyers of today and have it pay off right away. 

In almost all other scenarios, renovating with resale value in mind will often cost you in the end. 

The Cost of Playing It Safe

Two big things happen when you renovate your home with “resale” at the forefront of your mind. 

1- You play it too safe. Instead of opting for that drop dead gorgeous tile in your favourite colour for the kitchen backsplash, you go for something neutral. A white subway tile could be nice? It's glossy and doesn't stand out too much. Congrats, you just recreated the hundreds of builder spec homes I have seen over the last 5-10 years. 

2- You choose all the current trends. Trends are not bad, but following all the trends at once and the most neutral/bland versions of those trends (refer back to number one)... congrats, you have now stamped your home in a very specific time and space. I hope the hypothetical home buyer at an unspecified future time loves the trends of 2015!

Now imagine, your home is fresh and bright and new, it is lovely. Still expensive. Maybe not what you would have LOVED, but you do like it. It’s an improvement in a lot of ways. Surely,  it's a crowd pleaser. 

For the next five years you are paying off your renovations and you are glad you did them but, you still think about that gorgeous tile every once in a while. And you really wish you would have made that little splurge on that extremely cool artsy light fixture that spoke to you.  But, it cost just a bit too much and was a bit too “out there” to justify the cost in your mind. After all, you were being responsible and thinking about resale.  

It’s another 5 years later, a lot has changed in the last ten years since your renovation and you are ready to sell the house to that hypothetical buyer you always had in mind. 

But now... Your home is a very specific moment in time. One that has passed. Buyers are coming in and thinking they are going to have to redo almost everything to bring it up to date. Their offer price is quickly diminishing. The renos you spent so much time and money on, the joy you let go of to please the masses, is no longer going to work in your favour. 

It’s a very tragic but very common tale. Fortunately, you don’t have to follow this sad grey path…

The Better Option

There is something buyers notice when you are showing them 50 homes in a month, and it’s not the trending tile of 2015. Good design, quality materials, harmonious textures and colour schemes always stand out from the crowd. A buyer feels excited about a home that was so obviously cared for, maintained, and invested in. They feel that way and they say it out loud almost every time. 

Go for that gorgeous tile in your favourite colour, your future buyer was never going to swoon over the safe choice from 10 years ago anyway.