Imagine your dream home. What kind of appliances does it have. How are the walls textured? Are you walking on oak, bamboo, or concrete? Do glass tiles cover all walls of your bathroom, just the shower, or nothing at all. Backsplash or not? Glass-top range or gas? Stainless steel or white? Granite or marble? Size, location, price... okay, so you have your perfect home all sketched out in your head. | F: 917.522.9687
Second question: how do you find that home? You won't. Whether you're buying a pre-war resale or a new-construction condo unit, any existing home is going to be built to someone else's specifications, and it will rarely, if ever, perfectly match your own. Naturally, this quandary leads most buyers to modify, or renovate their new home. They might switch out the dark cabinets for cherrrywood, or they might install tripple-paned windows to conserve electricity. Chances are you will change something about the next home you buy. The question then becomes, how much change is too much?
The answer depends on your situation. If you are absolutely sure that you are going to live in this home until you die, then you have unlimited freedom to do whatever you want with the space. Make your bedroom a triangle and put mirrors on all the ceilings if you want. It will have no financial bearing on your real estate asset because you will always be the only one living in it.
However, if there is a chance of someone else paying you to live in it, whether that person is a buyer or a subtenant, then your strategy should change. The most common mistake owners make is over-personalization. Sure, you may love the fact that you have your own personal steam room, but most other people might not be willing to pay for that. You may think the $150,000 you've put into making your home the ultimate urban oasis makes it unique and special, and therefore has gained at least as much equity upon resale. Sorry to tell you, but this is rarely true. In fact, over-personalization can really hurt your financial investment. Remember, buyers are looking to purchase their own space - not someone else's. They want to feel as if they have the apartment is their own to run with, not that they have to fit into someone else's custom finishes.
If you're a landlord renovating an investment, or if you could potentially want to rent your home in the future, keep updates clean, simple, and current. Renter's can't change anything about the apartment, so they are generally looking for a good, neutral, updated space - often with some "character" if possible (i.e. exposed brick, beamed ceilings, etc.), depending on the building type and neighborhood. Also, as a landlord, you will probably want to sell the unit at some point, so the above wisdom concerning selling applies to your investment as well.
In general, when renovating, you want to keep your future buyer/renter in mind. Who will be looking in this neighborhood, who will be looking in this building, and who will be looking in this price range? If, for example, you own a three-bedroom on Central Park South, then you probably won't benefit from installing 50' flat screens in your kitchen and bathroom or a kegerator in your closet. Similarly, turning the living room into a playground or the bedroom into a nightclub is probably not the wisest investment.
What's safe? Anything that maintains the original essence of the apartment and building, but also makes the space feel cleaner, brighter, and updated. Replacing an old electric stove with a stainless steel gas range is almost always a safe bet, as is replacing carpet with hardwood. Also, try as much as possible to personalize the space with removable furniture and decor, rather than with structural modifications, especially in New York City. This will also safe you the hassle of going through your board with every step of your renovation process.
As always, feel free to bounce ideas off me, and I'll be happy to give you my honest (if brutal at times) opinion.
Jake Nicholson
| Vice PresidentCharles Rutenberg Realty
127 East 56th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10022
M: 917.280.
4546/ nyc residential / nyc midtown / nyc chelsea / nyc soho / nyc west village / nyc upper west side
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment