The time has finally come to build your dream home. You’re excited to design the layout to meet your exact needs. Your home will have all the finishes you’ve dreamed about. But you’re also wondering, do you need to consider the resale value of your custom-built home? How much you should consider resale value depends on your answers to three important questions.
How Willing Are You To Sacrifice Your Needs For Someone Else?
When planning for maximizing resale price, you must consider what is expected or standard in your neighborhood. Most homes in a given neighborhood have similar features and price points. You might need to make sacrifices on your desired finishes to maximize equity for the amount spent building the home. Upgraded finishes rarely recoup their cost during resale. If you can’t imagine sacrificing your preferences to keep your home similar to your neighbors, then be prepared to see that reflected in the listing price when you are ready to sell.
How Long Will You Live in This Home?
The sooner you plan to sell your home, the more you need to consider outside influence. The national average for homeownership is just over 10 years, which gives a lot of time for styles and preferences to change. Owning a home for a decade or more can also create many market changes that reduce your need to consider the effect your choices will have on your ability to recoup equity. If you are planning to stay in your home for less than 5 years, make the construction similar to neighboring homes to get the highest resale price.
Can You Confidently Predict Design Trends?
Styles change every decade, sometimes even more rapidly than that. When designing your home, putting in the latest design fads could date it and limit your ability to sell without significant remodeling. However, trends also circle back around; just look at the popularity of art deco and mid-century modern. If you are sure the look in your home will be in style when you are ready to sell, then you can confidently include those design elements into your custom-built home.
You are building your custom home for you. It’s easy to get carried away by all your fantasies. Thinking through these three questions can help put resale value into the proper perspective when designing your home. The future is unpredictable so if your plans change, at least you can be confident you made the best decisions possible.
