Published Date 8/31/2022
If your home is your castle, then there are no holds barred on what you can do with it, right? Well, for one thing, unless you have your home’s pink slip, it’s partially owned by a lender. And for another, if you make “luxury” changes to it that matter only to you, chances are good that you will not only not see a return on your investment. You might even lower your home’s value.
Realtor’s Jennifer Kelly Geddes reviews a few home amenities that could be referred to as bizarre. “Many real estate professionals say strange luxury home amenities can actually hurt a sale,” she says. While not as bizarre as the examples that follow, taking the plunge to install a swimming pool might have you convinced that it will greatly improve your home’s value. In reality, however, a pool only typically adds 7% to a home’s value. So once you add up the big bucks it takes to install and maintain a pool, that ROI is a drop in the proverbial bucket. Still, it might be eminently worth it to you, and to many a homeowner, that’s all that counts.
Now think over-improvement on steroids, the first of which is adding a pickleball court to your property. While it’s true that the sport is booming across the nation, with homeowners shelling out as much as $20,000 to build their own home court, most real estate experts don’t see a good ROI. South Carolina Realtor Damian Halls says despite its recent popularity, pickleball is still too specific to appeal to most would-be buyers. He learned this by experience, since he recently had a listing for a home with a court, and found it drew weak interest and had little impact on offers.
Making part of your home into a chapel is also a heavenly bridge too far. While it can provide spiritual significance to you and other devout would-be buyers someday, its value is uniquely personal and usually can’t be passed on. “Some buyers may also feel uncomfortable removing the religious room if their beliefs differ from the sellers,” says Geddes.
You might get a strike, but you won’t strike gold adding a bowling alley to your home. Bowling alleys cost an eye-watering $120,000 to $195,000 to install. Unless your home is a veritable mansion, don’t take up valuable square footage with this bad investment.
We mentioned pools, but making your pool into a mini-Bellagio doesn’t get much play either. Pools with jets, plus colored lights blinking in time to thumping outdoor music are simply over the top. “These look-at-me LED lights can cost anywhere from $800 to $1200 each, and simple water jets average about $1,000, but it might be best to skip the lit-up, dancing fountains if you don’t want buyers to chuckle during your open house.
You’ve seen HGTV hosts make a spare bedroom into a gift wrapping room or even a crafting room, but no one talks about the resale value of this investment at the end of their shows. Most folks wrap presents on the kitchen island or on the carpet in front of the TV — not in a specially designed room with shelves full of ribbon and rolls of paper. If you can manage to have the room perform double duty as a home office or guest room, however, you might get away with it.
And lastly, there is no end to what homeowners might do for their pets. But transforming space in the house for a doggie spa, complete with a massaging shower head, can cost thousands and may not offer any return on your investment. Then again, many, many people consider their pets a priority when looking for a home, so don’t rule that one out. After all, you can hose toddlers off there as well.
Realtor, TBWS
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