Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Remodeling in a Strained Economic Climate

In many ways, it seems that America has taken the current economic situation to heart. Many people have curtailed their spending, delaying gratification, waiting to pay cash versus paying on credit. But we have also seen many clients that have the funding to go ahead with a plan are waiting. My question is, waiting for what? Often the statement is "The Stock Market". OK, my next question is, "So you are waiting for the market to get better to liquidate?" Surprisingly, many answer no. Hmmm.

Amazingly, when we did research for the Houston area, we found that the home values were actually up 1% for 2008. So Houston has had a bit of protection compared to other markets. That's good news.

The other good news, now is actually a great time to do that project. Why? For several reasons.

1. Remodeling an older home to modern standards, helps to protect the investment in your home. For example, here is the picture of a master bathroom remodel we completed at the end of 2008.
This home is over 30 years old, only had one sink and the standard bath/shower enclosure.





















The Master bath also only had one sink. With two people needing to get ready to leave at the same time, this left the wife to get ready in the powder bath just out side the bedroom.


These are the pictures after. What value did this add for the client?























Both the husband and the wife now have a luxurious walk-in shower with bench, they are both able to get ready side-by-side with two sinks. If you were looking at buying this house, would it appeal to you? Probably a lot more than the before shot. The point is people are more likely to purchase homes that have the least amount of work for them to do.


2. The slowing market has more available labor and material resources. Materials are more readily available and some others are better priced than they were before. From a labor perspective, contractors, painters, electricians have a greater ability to focus on you and your home, resulting in a quicker timeline, that inevitably translates to a better controlled budget.


So in short, the next time we have a situation so beneficial to the homeowner like this may be a long time coming.

1 comment:

  1. I love this Leslie!! Very fresh and current, visual is excellent and I feel like
    I am getting a beautiful narration. I am going to refer this to everyone I network with!

    ReplyDelete