Should you be considering resale value when designing your home?

When do you need to design for you vs design for resale?

Here’s 5 tips to help you know.

Hello! This is Episode 252.

In this episode, I’ll be talking about a question I receive a lot, and see get discussed in online forums as well.

The question is along these lines:

If you’re doing your long term, forever home, or have no idea if and when you’ll sell your home, how much should you take resale value into account?

And should you include specific things in your design to improve the home’s resale ability or value?

Should you listen to your architect, designer, or builder and the suggestions they’re making about what adds value for resale if it’s something you don’t think you’ll want or need?

And can you do a home that’s just for you, and not put your resale value at risk?

I’m going to share my thoughts on this, plus give you five tips and action steps you can take to clarify this for yourself.

Now, let’s dive in.

Despite our homes being buildings that satisfy really basic human needs, this is also coupled with a bunch of metrics about our personal finances as well.

In fact, of the 10.3 million homes in Australia, around 6 million of them have mortgages on them. And, as at January of 2022, the average Aussie mortgage is just shy of $600,000. The total mortgage debt in Australia across owner-occupier properties is at $1.3 trillion, and investor properties sit at about half of that debt again.

So, many have A LOT at stake in the value of their home, and how it might grow or improve over time as well.

This can make our homes, and renovating and building them, super tricky. And there can be emotional and psychological drivers for why you want things a certain way, that then gets overlaid with financial metrics, and being ‘logical and sensible’ about your choices, especially if you feel they’re going to be too personal or directional for others’ tastes and preferences.

There’s some really interesting things to weigh up when it comes to our homes.

And so, there can be a balance of seeing a home as a real estate checklist that markets well and looks great as an asset and offering for future potential buyers …

Vs what your family needs, can afford to create and is in true alignment with how you want to live, your view on the world, and your values as an individual and family.

And that means the question of: How much do I need to worry about resale when renovating or building my family home? is completely understandable.

And when designers, architects and builders make suggestions about rooms, spaces and inclusions you should consider for their resale value, it’s understandable that you’d wonder if you should listen to them, even though these things aren’t necessarily what you had planned for your future home.

I’ve had many homeowners get in touch with me because they’re getting well-meaning suggestions to include a butler’s pantry, or a fourth or fifth bedroom, or to not do a carport but instead do a double-car garage. Or to ensure they ensuite their main bedroom, or they include guest accommodation.

And they’re torn, because they can rationally understand the suggestions, but they don’t feel right when viewed in alignment with their own needs and wishes, or those things will steal budget for things they may not use, from the things they will.

What is best for you to do is, of course, going to vary based on your personal financial situation, where your project is located, and the length of time you plan to live in your home.

However I thought I’d take you through some specific considerations if this is something you’re grappling with in your project.

Listen to the episode now.

RESOURCES:

Learn more about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs >>> https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

Article in Fast Company about why our living spaces are bigger than ever >>> Read here

How to create your design brief >>> Episode 196

Hear Jane Hilliard from Designful discuss how they keep their clients on track during their projects >>> Episode 238

How to finance your new build or renovation (with Caroline Jean-Baptiste, Mortgage Choice) >>> Season 10, Episode 6.1

Financing your new build or renovation (with Amy Beattie, Good Green Home Loans) >>> Part 1 of our conversation

Home Loans 101 (with Amy Beattie, Good Green Home Loans) >>> Part 2 of our conversation

Access my free “Your Project Plan” online workshop and awesome bonuses now >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/projectplan

Access the support and guidance you need to be confident and empowered when renovating and building your family home inside my flagship online program >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/the-home-method/