I don't think that granite will be gone by any means. I DO think that it might not be worth spending a bunch on upgrades to sell a house in this market and expect to get your money back. The timing of the article could have as much to do with the downturn in the market. In the time you spend upgrading the house to sell, the market could have gone down even more and your profit along with it.

On the other hand, there's the school of thought that if you DO upgrade you will be reaching a broader market. More people looking means more potential buyers. Depends how you want to approach the selling process.

I just finished selling our last home a few months ago by myself(no realtor). Choosing to just stage the house, repaint some areas, spruce up the exterior and pass the realtor's commission on to the buyer. It had formica in the kitchen and carpet in the living areas. Had no problem selling.

The house we built to stay in for a while has granite and hardwood.

Michelle

What I think is interesting is that we might not see people moving every three to five years just to upgrade. It used to be too easy to find that you could upgrade to a larger and nicer home by selling your current house after living in it for a few years and seeing so much appreciation. (Without any improvements.)

I actually think it is a good thing. If the housing bubble never happened, can you imagine what children who try to by their first home in 10 years from now would be paying for a starter home?

With that said, I do feel bad for people who can not get what they originally paid for their house.

Honestly, I wish people would stop redoing their houses for the next owner, while expecting to get their money back and then some. Build your own nest while you're living there, and enjoy. Take care of the house, replace as necessary with quality products. Unless it's a rehab project, don't be renovating for the next owner. Who wants to pay extra for someone else's personal taste and lifestyle, while wanting to rip it all out to do their own anyway. It's silly and just plain wasteful.

Make yourself comfortable and at home, for yourself -- the real person who lives there! : )

My sister has had her 2 yr old house on the market now for almost a year. Now her next door neighbor has his 2 yr old house on the market too. So there are two relatively new houses for buyers to compare. The neighbor's house is loaded with high end features (granite,etc) while my sister customized the interior of her house much, much cheaper. Neither of them has received an offer even though her price is 40% less than his. The market is in a terrible slump in her area no matter how you slice it. Neither has grabbed buyer interest...buyers don't seem to care if a house has bland white countertops or granite countertops because they're not out there to begin with!

And, btw, re my previous post, then you don't have to worry about whether you get the money back -- because it was for you!

This kind of reminds me of the thread on how you should price objects on Craigs List. That's another reason I didn't upgrade before selling. Why should I expect 100% return if I pick out the style? Granite is expensive and I'd want to pick out my own or at least not have to pay up the kazoo for someone else's idea of what the "typical" buyer might like.

Especially when its aimed for a general audience.

What are you supposed to use instead? Formica? I think today given that granite can be very inexpensive, that people do expect stone in most homes.

We talked about this in the kitchen forum quite a bit last week. Honestly, granite can be had cheaper than formica now a days, and even cheap granite looks better than many other counter tops. It's not all terribly expensive with wild patterns. In many markets it's considered a basic, not an upgrade.

The article had a stupid title. Good bye to granite should have been Good bye to flipping. Most people don't do it well enough to survive a down market and we're seeing the effects of that nationally as well as people living in homes they can't afford (crazy mortgage terms, no equity etc.).

Actually for some homes, formica would be appropriate. Granite is a 'fancy' product and it makes other lower-end items in the kitchen look cheap, so the whole kitchen needs an upgrade. Maybe the rest of the house too! inside and out : ) A high-end chef's kitchen in a lower-end house doesn't really fit right. Would look downright ridiculous here.

Same here Squirrel, granite would be way out of place in my kitchen. People coming to look at my house will be expecting to see granite because it's a tiny ranch and in a neighborhood that doesn't scream "granite kitchen." Seeing that we enlarged our kitchen will be a surprise to people who come see our house because all the other houses around us still have their tiny little kitchens. Some may have granite, but they can't turn around in them because they are so small. Give me elbow room and formica any day over granite and no space.

In our new house we defintely need to put some type of stone or other solid surface as formica would look out of place there.

I really dislike formica/plastic, so don't think I would ever put it here, even though it's quite appropriate for the house. Esp now that they're siding the darn place in plastic, cheap stuff at that. I do know people who have them, though, and their kitchens do look very nice. Just not me, and I don't care for plastic. So, it's been a struggle trying to figure out my counters. I do like stone, esp since they've been relaxed with the honed finishes. But it's still so darn monolithic or something for this place. I'm planning on butcherblock and am still liking the idea a whole lot. Maybe a small piece of stone on a 3x3 island type thingy I have. Nice for other types of prep. Just a touch for its beauty and variety, too. We'll see, though, and how it prices out.

Durability is my main goal here, too, so formica is out of the question there, too. This is going to be my forever countertop. And I'm not spending crazy thousands of dollars on it, either. I do love the look of tile, but not the grout lines for food prep or cleanup :(

I find the wood very warm, homey, and appealing.

The cherry, granite, stainless look doesn't fly in my n'borhood either.

For me, personally, I never cared for it as it was too 'everywhere'. I have been countertop shopping and was surprised at the quality of the formica out there today.

I have found out the hard way what over-improvement can do to resale in this kind of market. My DH and I bought one of the nicer homes on the street and made it the nicest. Not because we were looking for resale value, but because we love to DIY improve and we wanted things a certain way for us. Unexpectedly we found the greatest house blocks away for a steal, and we knew we had to buy it . . . . so we did. It has great bones but we can completely DIY another home. Today we had yet another buyer's agent tell us our house was fantastic but the neighborhood wasn't what they expected for a house such as ours.
10 months listed and we debating putting the new house on the market just to see if maybe it will sell.

So yes, sadly I think there comes a time when even if you are doing it for you, you can do too much.

You just can't price for the upgrades and have to price for the locale -- no payback on the improvements. Would you have rather done less for yourself?

I've decided that I won't give my place away. Lord knows I'd be paying an arm and a leg for anything I'd be buying. If someone doesn't want to pay what I want for it, I'm takin' things with me :)) Including these lovely Memoirs twalettes! They can have the junk from the new place : )

Hrm... I think laminate that tries to look like stone or wood is often a bad idea. Laminate that tries to look like laminate is AWESOME!

It's great, durable stuff, comes in wildly exciting colors, and looks fantastic.

My favorite house that I looked at, when we were house shopping (it was a little too small for our big family) had vivid terra cotta laminate countertops, cream walls, maple cabinets, and terracotta hex floors. It was bananas!

Why do people think they need to blow the average American's years salary or more on a kitchen?

I'm planning on wood countertops. I love them. They're cheap, and they look fantastic. If you scratch the bejesus out of them, you just sand them down, slap on some boiled linseed oil and bob's-your-uncle. Backsplash? Epoxy. Floor refinishing? Wax. My next stove, get this, $548. My next fridge... $700. My next dishwasher $389, baby! I won't cry if some yuppy broad doesn't like my kitchen, on a walk-through, 20 years from now. She can have the house for a bargain... it won't bother me.

What is going on with people? I just don't get it. Don't we like *having* money? I can't help but think that this isn't really about what we want, but that it's a status thing. Insecurity, maybe, even.

I'm ranting... sorry.

Interesting discussion...

MIL sold her house (a 1960 split entry; north of Boston) in 2005 just before things crashed in this area. Read that "got a great price."

My stepmom (who did RE staging prior to the crash)staged the place, helped edit out the schmaltz crap and advised her to paint the panelled kitchen and the colonial, knotty cabinets cream. Left the backsplash which were those teeny tiles like the ones people my age made ashtrays out of at camp. She pulled out the 45 year old countertop (Formica with the classic boomerage pattern) and put in a stonish looking Formica countertop. It looked appropriate. We pulled down some (not all) of the wallpaper, painted a nice warm beige and changed dated light fixtures, pulled up the rust (now faded orange) shag and refinished the hardwood floors resting underneath.

The family who bought it have 2 young kids. The woman later wrote my MIL a letter how she loves the cozy kitchen and how she and the kids are enjoying themselves baking!

We drive by occasionally and yes, they pulled out the beautiful Japanese maple but to make the driveway bigger for the guy's work truck. But there's a swing set in the backyard and a basketball hoop in the driveway.

Looks like a home. Would I want to live in it? No way. But that is the moral of this story - make your house a home for yourself. The next owner will do his or her own thing. (That's why I'm getting ready to hang brick red Jacobean wallpaper in my kitchen - because I love it!)

I believe that you should decorate/update to your taste and not assume anyone else is going to pay you more than 50% for what you've done.

I'm sure there are many posters on this forum that have looked at what I've done with my house and said - wow, what was she thinking, and there are quite a few who have decorated things in their house, and I'm like wow, I'd never do that in a million years.

What I find interesting is when people upgrade their houses - primarily kitchens and bathrooms with granite & tile in patterns that just don't go with the house, or are really bold and honestly, to their taste.

Most people aren't going to like what you like, so they're going to either not buy your house, or if it were me, I'd expect to lower the price the amount or some percentage of what it will cost me to rip out what I don't like and redo it.

I think I agree with the general consensus here- you do need to maintain a home, and as far as improvements go, they need to make sense with the time and place. I DO think that it is still a good idea to at least be aware of the market and decor trends, to make an educated decision. (certainly decorate for yourself, but with an understanding that maybe between 3 options that you feel comparably favorable to.. if 2 are overall appealing to most folks and one would turn away buyers at least be aware of that).
I am tweaking my 18 year old kitchen which I selected 18 years ago and I still really really like most of it and will not change it. I do think it needs updating though, and although we have no plans to move, I am keeping an eye on what seems to be appropriate for the resale end of things, whenever that may occur.
And I have to add that the image of the mosaic ashtrays from camp is just too excellent.Thanks for the memory!!

Do most people expect a seller to reduce a home's price based on what it would cost to redo? To repair structural issues - faulty wiring, a roof - sure; but decor type stuff - no. Seems to me that is what new construction and custom building is for.

Ok, here is my pet peeve. What are that writers thinking when they write the people are trying to create a "Taj Mahal"??? Don't they know that Taj Mahal is a mausoleum, house for a dead queen? I do not know any person that is improving their house having this goal in mind.

OK, rant over.

I agree with people who said that you should make the improvements for yourself not for some magical buyer. At the same time, most people want a ready made house, they do not want a hassle and expense of redoing a kitchen or bath. So I think there is place for both, nicely remodeled houses and houses that need work ;)

When I do any changes in my tiny house, it is mostly with my own tastes in mind. Part of me also considers The Next Time. That means I try and keep the expensive parts--flooring, cabinets, countertops--more neutral rather than exotic. I then accessorize, paint, dress windows with easily changable colors and styles.

I also consider how it will work in the future for me. I go with a low/no maintenance approach whenever possible.

I don't ever plan on moving but we all know unexpected things happen. I would imagine any new buyer will want to change certain things to make the home their own. At least the bones of the house will be neutral enough for them to work around for awhile.

We absolutely love our granite, hardwood floors, outdoor fireplace and kitchen, etc. We did not choose these things thinking re-sale - we did it for ourselves and are loving every moment in it and pray that we will spend our remaining days in it, it brings us such joy.

Like dian57 said, we all know unexpected things happen. Katrina blew away what we thought was our then "dream house," built in 2000. It had a lot of good things going for it, as far as possible resale value goes, but we know how that story ended...

We learned a valuable lesson - that life is short, that nothing is permanent, and while we have our days to surround ourselves with things and people we love.

I need to run - my husband is on his way home from Lowe's, with 18 Confederate jasmine vines for me to plant!

Home Decor is cyclic, the granite that you love today maybe be absolutely hideous to your daughter when she goes to decorate her own home. It will remind her of her mother's decor and she will want a place that is all her own.
I have some granite and formica in my kitchen. At the time I couldn't afford all granite and went with a granite island and formica around the perimeter countertops. I love it. I can change my formica and leave the granite and still have the look of a total re-do at a fraction of the cost. Of course I doubt I will do that. I tend to keep the stuff "I Like", like my floral wallpaper in the foyer and floral window treatments in my kitchen. It may be dated to some, but I like the homey feel that it gives "me".
I'm sure some potential buyer in the future is going to be appalled that we didn't put in all granite and it may be something that would drive them away. All they have to do is go down the road, and they can find their all granite and stainless kitchen.

A high-end chef's kitchen in a lower-end house doesn't really fit right. Would look downright ridiculous here.

And the opposite is also true--a high-end house almost "requires" high-end materials. We encountered this when remodeling the kitchen and replacing the floors in our log home.

The original kitchen had handmade pine cabinets and handmade butcherblock counters. The original floors were random-width maple, fabricated on-site from trees off the property. (Almost everything in the house is handmade including the cabinets, wall paneling, interior doors, trim, and even the original barstools.)

Formica counters in this house would look ridiculous. We chose granite counters, cherry cabinets, and slate floors.

On the other hand, our previous home had laminate counters, which we replaced with new laminate right before we put the house on the market (1999). It sold within a few months, for $275,000. And it just sold again last year, for $535,000, most likely with the same laminate counters.

Sorry this is OT but still a main reason for homes not selling.... My appologies to those in Congress, Banking, subprime home owners and the RE industries. ;)

If it's financially possibly for someone to stay in their home a few more years rather than trying to sell it now they will eventually see profit. That is unless you're someone that bought homes hoping to flip them and make a profit. If that's you...oops. Think of that old pendulum swings philosophy.
A poster said earlier there are no buyers looking in their town but there are buyers out there, they just need to find "your" home. So, you have to do... what you have to do... to make them want your home over someone elses. Clean if you need to, improve if you have to (but not over the area) and if that doesn't sell it then get a new agent that wants to work for you or..drop the price. Our's sold in less than 2 months because we did improvements and priced for this market, not the market of 3 years ago.

And for those with adjustable-rate mortgages there probably is no silver lining if you need to sell now. I live in California where something like 1 in 10 homes fall under that category which is a HUGE number. On top of that the market several years ago was out of touch. Normally in California growth is somewhere around 6% per year. But during the boom homes were overpriced by as much as 40% or higher. Now it's leveling back down to normal growth pattern causing many to realize how over inflated their values were. Most new home owners won't remember that this same scenario happened about 25 years ago. Congress had a huge blame in that happening and in part causing our current problems due to legislation they passed in the 80's allowing banks to do these kind of loans.

I feel bad for those that are trying or worse have to sell right now. For those that can, hang-on just a little bit longer and remember that pendulum.

Wow...Sorry guys...to much coffee this morning...
;)

It's not "adjustable rate mortgages" that were the problem but instead ARM's that had terms which allowed for no repayment of principal. A normal ARM has a standard floor and ceiling built into it and is amortized out to repayment schedule at a higher rate than is expected over it's lifetime so that people don't end up backwards.

When people got greedy (financiers and home buyers) and went for ARM's that didn't even plan on full interest repayment on the terms, as well as no ceilings or rediculous adjustments (ie up 7% in a six month period etc) things started falling apart. You HAVE to repay principal and always the full amortized monthly interest or you'll end up in a mess. Sure you can afford way more house than you could normally if you don't make full payments...but ummm someday they have to be paid don't they???

That's true igloochic. Thanks.

Uxorial, your log home sounds so warm and just lovely.

I think any smart homeowner needs to maintain their home with improvements, newer products or remodels so it doesn't lose it's value. We were in our old home for 21 years doing improvements the whole time to maintain our investment. Our kitchen was one of the few on the block that had been remodeled with new appliances and granite (orginals had tile). Our oak floors had been refinished and we did that again just before selling so it looked fresh and new.
With our listing (June 2007) there were 3 homes out of 16 in our neighborhood for sale. Our's (the last listed) is the only one that has sold. The 2nd home though clean and priced $25k less than ours, had no improvements and was taken off the market after 6 months. The 3rd home though 5 years newer and priced $50k under ours, has had no improvements and is dirty. After 3 years it is still on the market. Since all 3 homes are of similar size, age and design I can only attribute our quick, higher priced sale, to improvements, cleanliness and a good agent.

If you are making improvements because you are going to get $1.50 on the dollar you put in, that gravy train is over. I think people got the mistaken idea that their improvements were getting that much $$ for them when in reality RE prices were just escalating so quickly that even just holding your house for 4-6 more months would get you 10%.

That's how those house flip shows always worked at least - the dummy would say they plan to spend $20k and 4 weeks to do a total gut remodel of a house and it would take 6 months and $100k and they would still make a $100k profit. How? Housing prices had gone up $150k in the time they spent holding the house. They could have done nothing but hold the house and would have made the same money. Meanwhile people are watching those shows and thinking "wow, if that idiot who doesn't know the business end of a hammer can make a $100k profit on a $100k investment, so can I!" In reality the idiot just got lucky on market timing.

I'm quite sure from a short term profit point of view, we are overimproving our house. This is a blue collar working class area and our bathroom is going to be fancy even though we are using cheap tile (most expensive is $2/sf) - the bathroom is huge and irregularly shaped so off the shelf stuff doesn't work in many cases. That's okay though, we are not looking to make a short term profit, we are looking to have a bathroom to enjoy for the rest of our lives that will be timeless. And yes, we are putting granite in - just a couple of hundred $$ for remnants, but it's a beautiful honed stone nonetheless.

I also look at it as a purchase to enhance my life, not as an investment we are looking to cash out on right this second. It's kind of like buying a car to me (and costing about the same). We'd rather share our 7 year old honda than drive a shiny new car and have a crappy, poorly functioning bathroom that does not architecturally fit our house. It's just about priorities.

Yes, equally poor choices are made for more expensive homes, Uxorial. One does need to consider the house the materials are going in. Not just for resale, but for its integrity and overall fit/feel of the place. Of course, we all can't afford to do that! (over buying?) I often wonder if people buy some of these large houses simply because they just want the space, even if they know they can't do things quite as nicely as the house actually is. Then when things need to be done, they have to go cheap.

I woke up this morning thinking, once again, how my wood counter is going to look pretty stupid in this place, too : ( with that cheap plastic they're putting on the outside. Builder beige at that. No wonder I never get to this darn thing. I'd be miserable with equally cheap materials inside, though, so I'm going to have to have a bit of a refuge in here, for myself, once I pass through the front door : ) and away from the madness of our Board's bad decisions. Esp, since I will likely be here for the rest of my life! ~ ! Who cares !~~ I'm willing this little gem to a friend : ) Enjoy!

Like most, though, I always have things in the back of my head for resale -- as far as doing something too crazy. It's just practical and prudent. Depends on how important something would be to me or the way I live, and how much I'd be able to take a resale hit money-wise. But I'm not doing things around here expecting to actually make the money back, or even more, or to please the next guy. If the place gets a bit more than my neighbor's, as it should, then good -- but this is my house now and it's for me.

I agree with dian57 and squirrelheaven on improving with having "some" thoughts on resale.

I have been making many improvements to my house and know that if I tried to sell tommorrow I would never get everything back. I am fine with that because I knew that going into it and have no debt on any of it.

I have added many upgrades when I have done my projects. Here are a few examples: Garage door. It needed to be replaced and I went for a carriage style. It is really nice and I decided that it was worth the cost to me. I could have gone with a cheaper door but I wouldn't be happy with it. FR windows: These would need to be replaced at some point and could have been done less expensively. I decided to totally go for a different look and added transoms. Same thing - expensive. I know that I will not recoup all the expense but it is OK with me.

When I do spend money on projects I always ask myself, "Are you sure you want to spend this amount of money because it will cut X amount of days until you can retire." I estimate that my garage door cost me one extra month off my retirement and my windows cost me two more.

So back to resale....I think that my upgrades will sell my house "faster" but it will not get me alot more money than another house down the block that did not upgrade as much.

BTW. Good idea for a thread. Makes you think.

Totally where it's at, Kelly, imo. Anything else is a nice little windfall.

A few months? That's great! I'd do it in a heartbeat, too. (You've done such a beautiful job with your home, too :) A total pleasure to come home to, I'm sure.)

Wow. This is a great thread les!

I am still in my first home, have been here "only" seven years, and would like to relocate, but know that in all probability, I'll be here at least another two or three years. For a couple of reasons, not least the housing market, but that's not the only reason, and not the most compelling one, for me.

Having said all that, I do think too many people on this lovely forum worry too much about "resale value" when decorating their homes for themselves.

As opposed to "design to sell" which calls for "staging" and, as the name suggests, does not account for the realities of people living their lives. Some people actually DO have children and pets, including me. :)

I grew up in a military household, and we moved a lot. I didn't have the opportunity to buy my first home until I was much older than the average age of first time buyers.

Maybe that's why, there just is no way in hell I would even consider NOT doing what I want in my house, for me and my family, to hell with what the current trends are.

I want it to look nice, don't get me wrong. But the trends start somewhere, so why not embrace the look you love, and go for something with a little personality?

Thanks squirrelheaven. You have always been so sweet to me. Believe me - part of the discussion in my head is.....If you do no improvements will you end up being an bitter old lady who spends her early retirement throwing rocks at her home. (There are always trade-offs.)

I feel for your situation. It brought back memories. My last house was a townhome and it had nice wood siding stained a dark brown. Then they replaced it with cheap brown metal siding for maintenance issues. I hated it and had no say it the decision.

When we bought our present home 20 years ago the entire house needed to be updated. We took one section at a time and updated it. We were getting ready to update again 5 years ago when we decided to instead build our dream home. So when we move and put this one up for sale we will have brought it up to par with laminate and tile floors throughout, fresh paint, refurbished kitchen cabinets, new screens on windows and other little things. We don't plan on spending a fortune but putting it in a condition that we would consider very nice for the next buyer. In our neighborhood if houses are in move-in condition they usually sell within a couple of months. We are hoping to be that lucky. We don't want to have the price knocked way down due to improvements that are needed, when it won't take that much money to make the necessary upgrades to get the selling price.

A lot of good reasoning points made here already. I think that overimproving for your neighborhood is something that has been warned against for decades. Buy the worst house on the block and improve that. You can't go wrong there. But if you put money into a house that you love and intend to live in, you will probably sell fairly well depending on market conditions anyway.
And sometimes it really doesn't take a whole lot to significantly improve a home to look good in the view of future buyers. A clean fresh paint job in neutral colors, a well-organized and painted garage with good storage, nice looking landscaping, good quality carpet or hard surface flooring, and good maintenance, will absolutely help a home sell faster in any market. If you have some of the items that many are looking for; updated countertops, newer appliances, nice faucets, those things can help too. But as several already commented on, improving simply for a financial return can really be a mistake today.

Red

I think red's last line was the best...Improving for financial return can be a mistake today. (shortened because I'm lazy).

Improving somewhat is always valuable, but going nuts and expecting to receive every penny is nuts too. In our current remodel I expect to have about a 60% return on the remodel in it's entirety. The appraisal (as proposed) supports that theory. We chose to improve at a higher level than the appraisal supports because A) we plan on holding onto the home and don't really care about immediate resale value and B) most important...we're doing the upgrades for US not for anyone else.

We live in a townhouse and ours shows that you can play with resale in any neighborhood no matter how similar the units are. Ifyou have something special (ie we're an end unit with lake in the front and side) you can improve over resale of the other units/homes in your neighborhood. You just don't want to improve over the market as a whole. Our units tend to sell in the mid 300's on the lake and low 300's off the lake with a view. Our as proposed, despite the fact that we're smaller than the other units came in at $500 because townhouses on lakes are rare and desirable and anything in the mid 500's is considered "affordable" here due to the oil industry and their love of houses without yard obligations :)

The other townhouse we purchased in the next group of units over should have sold for about $315 or so. We picked it up for aroudn $170 because it hadn't been updated since birth (1976) and was also not maintained. I can turn it around for another $100 and still make profit if I want because this is an incredibly desirable neighborhood, but to do so, I have to meet certain standards like granite and high end appliances.

It's really easy to say "this is how it is for everyone" but really it can vary from block to block and city to city as well as house to house. So maintain your sanity and do it for yourself instead and enjoy what YOU want to enjoy!

I'm with those who have written that you should create the home you want for yourself, rather than any future potential buyer. On our long car travels across the country over the past year and half, I've seen the outward result of the over-concern for resale: city after city, town after town, with neighborhood after neighborhood of safe, gray-beige uniformity. My husband and I also bought our first house, (this house) later in life and we're doing it exactly as we want--heck, if not now, then when?

Kelly, I'll never do a townhome again if I can get around it. A total heartache. The Board rules over the community's wishes on everything. They have also made some incredibly costly bad decisions over the years. Like, we're doing the roof again already. Not to mention all the cr!@ they've let people do to the outside of their units. If I didn't live in the section I'm in with a great view, I think I'd have gone completely nuts long ago. I so dread when the siding is put on my unit. It just won't be my home anymore and I think I'll really have a time tuning it out :( Even my garden won't look the same. It should be a happy thing!

Apparently we are over-improving, over building... over a lot of stuff.

Here is a link that might be useful: FDIC expands staff; bank failure expected to increase

I've never been a big fan of granite as a good value money making home improvement except possibly in smallish luxury apartments where there isn't much room for other sorts of improvement. With the average home, if you want to spend that sort of money there are better things to put it into than luxury counter tops. You have to seriously look at all the other things that sort of expenditure would enable you to afford. Adding space, changing traffic flows, changing the amount of natural light with new windows and skylights, adding wonderful outside living areas, converting an unused roof-space to being moderately well finished storage space, built in storage that really works with the space.

Granite... well it's nice but does it really change the substance of what one is selling? For that sort of money I expect to make my property either substantially different to other similar properties, or I expect to implement a HUGE visual change that spans more than one room or changes the way the property is seen from outside.

I'm not saying I'd never get granite, but I wouldn't use resale value to fully justify my purchase if I did buy granite.

Just a few more words on the subject of granite...

"A woman hammers granite stones into small rocks in a quarry outside Bangalore, carving away at India's fragile environment. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Commerce report that imports of Indian stone by American consumers have grown significantly. Granite exports from India, which remain India's most popular stone product for the American market, reached a total of over $41 million in 2000, as compared to $26.6 million in 1995. In Rajasthan, in North India, there are an estimated 1100 marble slab manufacturing units, making up 90% of the total marble slabs produced in India."

"Hard life: Thorona, a 20-year-old Christian convert, loads granite into containers at a quarry for 12 hours a day for just over $1.50. Iswar, 30, (left) holds the couple's 3-year-old child. In a culture where women perform much of the backbreaking labor, Thorona earns the family's wages before taking a break to breast-feed the child and make lunch for her waiting husband."

There are hundreds of pictures on the internet of granite being quarried. Check it out!

...some with captions even.