dga28

my bad. you are correct. i stand corrected. .....smile...

even if it increases the value of your kitchen and therefore the value of your house? there seems to be an inherent bias from a lot of posters regarding people spending their own money on what they want. people shouldn't buy high end brand appliances?

are you for real with this comment? someone is pretentious because after buying a home, they decide to upgrade their appliances? isn't this a home improvement forum?...lol

regarding the wolf range, i agree. in various houses i have had a combination of viking and or wolf for the past 12 years and never had even one issue. regarding the wolf knobs, mine came with both black and red knobs...which one i used was my choice. i see nothing wrong with having high end appliances if you want to and can afford to. its a personal choice and not something to be ridiculed for.

the approach i take is to try and do a little each year, so that, if and when i do decide to sell, i dont have to take a big bang approach and do everything all at once, which can be very disruptive and expensive. some attributes may be a little aged but the entire house wouldn't be. it doesn't even have to be much. can be simple things such as updating plumbing fixtures one year, lighting fixtures another, redoing or update floors in one area of the house another year, some new appliances another year, etc...

i give up because i am pretty sure i stated explicitly multiple times that if someone doesn't care about resale value or wasn't looking to sell their houses quickly, they dont have to pay attention to trends. they can be more specific regarding their tastes and how they want their houses to look. the tone of the discussion was that people were idiots for paying attention to trends. maybe unlike some here, they care about resale value. if you can understand one point of view, why can't you also understand the other?

i agree. i have been clear to say, making the highest profit possible and getting a fast sale was very important to me. i understand and respect that others may have different priorities. this entire discussion started by me responding to people who seemed to be downing others for paying attention to trends.

i disagree. if my investment is to be respected, resale value along with my taste should be considered. people who only respect their tastes and ignore resale value usually end up with the short straw.

i understand its a function of area and supply. recently i have bought in high zip code areas and have bought properties much lower than average because the not updated houses were lagging behind the updated ones in terms of time being on the market. if i have been lucky, i have been lucky on 6 homes.... i have seen pretty much the same results with other people...

i am talking about selling for more than i bought it for. i have bought 6 houses and sold 5 over my life so far. I have moved a lot due to my career. for the ones that i have upgraded, i have made a profit each time. multiple offers within the first week a couple of times. the most was a $200k profit after two years of owning after making inexpensive superficial upgrades. but when i buy, i take advantage of homeowners who didnt upgrade their homes by offering a much lower price than i normally would. they accept because their house usually have been sitting on the market for some time. some buyers and sellers are not really that savvy. some buyers pay a premium for upgraded houses, while some sellers refuse to upgrade their houses. so i use those two behavior patterns to my advantage.

oh i agree, for a discount on the price. Thats the issue.

nah...not me. its a bad practice to deliberately take losses on real estate. also it impacts how fast or how slow your house sells which is another financial hit. i dont believe in throwing money away. i will adapt my taste somewhat to preserve my house value. Plus you dont have to go overboard, just basically keep up with some trends, doesn't have to be all. moderation can be good.

when you are younger and you move every 5 yo 7 years due to job or income changes, and have sold a few homes, you tend to think about those things. i see it as protecting my investment. it only takes one move where you lose a lot of money and or take a longer than normal time to unload the house to appreciate keeping it trendy....

i understand. but when you are younger, and upwardly mobile, it usually pays to keep resale in mind when buying. years ago the average homeowner moved every 7 years. since the housing bust, that time period has grown to about every 9-10 years.

i guess i am a little more understanding than some of you. most of the times it may not necessarily be what i feel i must have as much as recognizing whats more popular and what can potentially increase the resale value of my home. there are a lot of touches that i am personally neutral about but i know they will appeal more to the masses, thus either increasing my resale value or selling my house faster if and when i have to sell. this approach has helped me stay ahead most times i have sold my home while not staying up with trends have hurt me a few times.