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No, I'm not a flipper but I know that life can change and I wouldn't want to be is the position of not being able sell my home if I needed to. I realize I can't control overall market conditions, but in general, I would prefer to have my house be easier to sell rather than harder.
It's amazing how many people don't seem to grasp that the main underlying value in residential real estate is derived from the ability to either rent or sell the property to someone else, not them personally. The very wealthy can largely ignore this if they like, but the average Joe with a 30 year mortgage usually can't afford to be so complacent.
General rule of thumb is if you borrowed money to buy your house because you couldn't afford to pay cash, you best take into consideration whether it's salable because you only 'own' the portion in excess of the debt.
It's amazing how many people don't seem to grasp that the main underlying value in residential real estate is derived from the ability to either rent or sell the property to someone else, not them personally. The very wealthy can largely ignore this if they like, but the average Joe with a 30 year mortgage usually can't afford to be so complacent.
General rule of thumb is if you borrowed money to buy your house because you couldn't afford to pay cash, you best take into consideration whether it's salable because you only 'own' the portion in excess of the debt.
Good advice but we own our home outright. It really does come down to location, location no matter had fantastic of a place it might be, but saying all that I do think one should enjoy their home ! ....
I have always wanted my home to be in top shape at all times so that a sudden need to sell would not be a problem. Of course that refers primarily to maintenance, since decor and painting can be dealt with in a very short time. When I have bought a house, my major concern is whether I can tolerate the previous owner's style and embellishments long enough to make the changes I prefer.
When buying a home though, if the house has quirky, bizarre decor and colors, I associate this with owners who are more 'artistic' than practical. I would suspect they did not care much about maintenance issues. Just a gut feeling. So I would pass up the house.
I also think selling a home has to do with your own decorating style. I am not a tchotchke type. My three homes when sold were immaculate and clutter free as well as to my own taste. I love color and am not a white room person. My kitchen in one house went from cantaloupe, to apple green, to tangerine. It was a north facing room and dark in the winter and I wanted it bright and as sunny as possible. My broker told me that the buyers actually were wowed by the tangerine and said they would never be brave enough to paint a room that color!!! I have since heard from my former neighbor that while not big into color for the rest of the house they did go with a yellow for the kitchen.
I blame HGTV for this..... I am so tired of all the brown, grey, and other blah colors. I have friends that hate the choices they made when remodeling but did it anyway because that was what HGTV said they needed to do for re-sale. People need to quick seeing their home as an investment they get to live in and start seeing it as a place they live in that can be an investment. They thing that kills me is that by the time people sell their home whatever remodeling they did will be outdated so they have lived with colors and choices they hate.
On the other hand..... painting walls pink and orange and throwing in painted black trim is just asking for a low ball sales price probably no matter what year you try to sell it.
This is why I won't have a bathtub in my house after I remodel the bath. I take showers, and I want a walk-in shower because I'm getting old. I see no point in putting in a bath tub that I will never use, and that a new buyer 7-10-20 years from now will see as "outdated". I will put in a closet where the tub would go, so that there will be minimal work to adding a tub in the future, but it's useless to me whereas a closet is always useful.
This is why I won't have a bathtub in my house after I remodel the bath. I take showers, and I want a walk-in shower because I'm getting old. I see no point in putting in a bath tub that I will never use, and that a new buyer 7-10-20 years from now will see as "outdated". I will put in a closet where the tub would go, so that there will be minimal work to adding a tub in the future, but it's useless to me whereas a closet is always useful.
This does sound like good planning. Building for what you need while not spending unnecessary funds making future use difficult. Removing a tub may or may not be a good long term decision, but 20 years off? Not worth the effort to figure out. Now, spending $20K to put in a gold plated towel warmer in place of the tub because it's "what you like", well, that might not be a good idea.
It's amazing how many people don't seem to grasp that the main underlying value in residential real estate is derived from the ability to either rent or sell the property to someone else, not them personally. The very wealthy can largely ignore this if they like, but the average Joe with a 30 year mortgage usually can't afford to be so complacent.
General rule of thumb is if you borrowed money to buy your house because you couldn't afford to pay cash, you best take into consideration whether it's salable because you only 'own' the portion in excess of the debt.
Location is far more important then any paint color on the wall. There is no possible way to decorate your house to match everyone's taste. Trying to live in a house that was decorated just on the off chance you might have to sell sounds pretty miserable to me. Even if "everything" is neutral in your house, to prep for the market you will probably still have to paint to freshen it up, maybe replace some carpet, etc. Unless you update your carpet, kitchen, bathrooms, every 5 years or so, no one ever lives in a house that is 100% ready to sell, ever.
Permanent or things not easily changed like layout, sure, there should be some consideration, but if you want to paint your kitchen Day Glo Yellow, who cares. You can just repaint before selling..that's about a days worth of work and $50 of paint.
This is why I won't have a bathtub in my house after I remodel the bath. I take showers, and I want a walk-in shower because I'm getting old. I see no point in putting in a bath tub that I will never use, and that a new buyer 7-10-20 years from now will see as "outdated". I will put in a closet where the tub would go, so that there will be minimal work to adding a tub in the future, but it's useless to me whereas a closet is always useful.
I think that's very clever. I know I personally would not have bought a house without an oversized shower - since I was building new construction, I also got to select the tile, add a frameless glass door and a spa shower panel. If there had been enough room for a tub too, I would have been ok with it even though I don't use one. But for my floorplan, the bathroom wasn't large enough to include a tub and the nice shower that I wanted and I prioritized the shower. It's possible that was a choice that will put off some buyers because there are definitely people who will not buy a home without a soaking tub in the master. On the other hand, there are plenty of houses that don't even have a separate master bath.
That's an example of where I went with the choice I wanted because I wasn't equally torn between two different things. Not having my luxury shower was a dealbreaker for me, regardless of resale. In actuality, I think there is a majority of people who would make the same choice, and would put a nice shower higher on their list than a tub when they can't have both.
We have been in many homes,we do what ever for our own comfort,we do not care about down the road.
Our home here is for sale,we have lived in it for 9 years,we did what was necessary and will get less than what we put into property.
Location is far more important then any paint color on the wall. There is no possible way to decorate your house to match everyone's taste. Trying to live in a house that was decorated just on the off chance you might have to sell sounds pretty miserable to me. Even if "everything" is neutral in your house, to prep for the market you will probably still have to paint to freshen it up, maybe replace some carpet, etc. Unless you update your carpet, kitchen, bathrooms, every 5 years or so, no one ever lives in a house that is 100% ready to sell, ever.
Permanent or things not easily changed like layout, sure, there should be some consideration, but if you want to paint your kitchen Day Glo Yellow, who cares. You can just repaint before selling..that's about a days worth of work and $50 of paint.
I'll point out that this thread was about design choices, not necessarily decorating. I'd totally agree that decorating for resale is only necessary once the house is being prepped for sale. Design on the other hand can involve a lot of elements that have 20+ year lifespans.
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