Too right!! But Pinch, you wouldn't want to buy my house because of all the green stone running through it! Not that I plan on selling it. People seem to genuinely like my green knobbed kitchen, but I think people who bought the house would be more interested in the school and the shopping and other location factors than the kitchen. And look into how soon they could at least change the tiles and the knobs. I like it!

I think one of the issues is that there are a lot of people who use a house's equity as enforced savings. I was taught from very young that a house is an expensive luxury, and that if one rented, and invested the amount not spent on insurance, upkeep, interest, taxes, etc., etc., one would end up with much more money in the end. I certainly have found that to be true after buying near where I was renting a house. Totally forgetting the improvements I've made, home ownership is expensive.

So if one's biggest source of savings is the equity in one's home, and one might have to tap that in an emergency, it's reasonable that one would wish to make any alterations such that one could anticipate as easy a sale as possible when that emergency arises.

I'd decorate around the green. I'd outnumber it with something else! And I have to really like something to keep it the same forever.

I do know what you're saying about upkeep! After the Great Kitchen Remodel I had enough money left for The Bathroom. I did NOT have enough money for a septic tank and leach field. That was a surprise. So now I have a new septic/leach field and the bathroom is not done yet.

I'm 63. In MY day you were taught to buy a house and not pour money down a rat hole paying rent. If I may ask, how old are you? I'm in the center of the midwest. I wonder if that has anything to do with anything? My dad fought in WWII. (His unit was quite famous. He's on a web site about it.) Reading real history books, and a lot of retro renovation pages, I know they had money for houses after service. I bet history is tied into the home ownership philosophy. I wish I would have asked more questions and acted interested when I had the chance. Too late now.

plllog: I think you are also forgetting the tax savings from owning and that, historically, houses have gone up in value if you take a long view. If you sell within 5 years, you used to be pretty safe as to return. If you do so now, you will have lost, but 5 years from now, who knows?
Your mortgage payment may seem high now, but in 20 years, it will seem low compared to rent and once you pay off your mortgage, you will live much cheaper than the renter will for what you have. You can always sell and downsize then if you do not need so much...

You also have to keep in mind that investments elsewhere have taken a beating as well or more than houses have in the past few years. I hate to look at our retirement accounts any more, so I just don't look and try to appreciate we are purchasing new shares at a bargain and it will turn around one day... The value in our accounts has dropped a ton as it stands.

There is also no price you can put on feeling like you are in your own home and your family is secure there and you will not be pushed out on anyone else's whim. There is a nice continuity for those that want it.

I understand thinking about resale, but hope no one does boring because they were afraid of what future potential buyers may think. I'd also hate to see someone blow their budget because those same imaginary buyers would want better than you can afford comfortably to spend.
In the cases of worrying that you are over-investing financially in your home, it may be good to question the impact on resale. Maybe it would lead someone to be a little more thrifty and to realize that their wants list is not written in stone, as new people may not even have heard of the latest widget you are coveting (which will be an outdated widget by the time you sell, lol).

I intend to decorate/renovate to suit our needs and am trying to keep expenses down. Now, we have our few splurges mixed in, but those are relatively minor and offset by how much we aren't spending where it isn't necessary. I know someone else may not like our backsplash that I have worked so hard to get how I envision it, but they can rip that out and replace fairly easily. I just would not want to see that or even know about it. When we sold our last house, the buyer asked if she could come by one day after contract to look at paint swatches in context. I had spent close to 7 years fixing all the walls and had painted everything lovingly with carefully chosen colors and got many compliments on them (and I do mean many). It blew me away that the one thing I thought was a selling feature for sure, was something she would change. I would have understood if she updated the kitchen or bathrooms (chosen by the people before us) as we had moved them forward a bit with small updates, but they were still not what I would have picked. That taught me in an instant (what my prior 16 years in real estate at the time had also taught me, but not to the same level) that you just cannot guess what the next person will like. I thought that anyone buying my house was buying it because they liked what we (I) had done to it. Go figure.... I always knew it was true for other people's houses, but it sure hit home when it happened with mine, lol.

We have kept a thought about resale as we made my choices here. Our house is a ranch model with all the living space on one level and a finished basement. I am going with an open floor plan because we love that, but I also know from previous experience with buyers who needed a handicapped equipped house, that our layout would be enticing to someone in a wheelchair and that is rare around here unless a house is renovated specifically for that. When someone needs handicap accessible, they often have to rip out almost everything and the costs are astronomical. Our area is established and almost all resales. I have never seen any new construction by builders that are ranch models. They used to build a lot of hi ranches, and the past 10 years or so, it is all colonials. Any new houses are spot built as there is no land for a development. Our house is in a desirable part of the region and since it will be all open with good sized doorways and walkways, they would only need to make over a bathroom and put in a ramp to our front door. Our new kitchen can be adjusted fairly easily. Demographics say the population is aging and that there will be more demand for a house like ours.
Part of our renovation is moving the laundry room up to the main level. It was not important to me but my husband felt it was a good move (funny, but I do approx 97% of the laundry here, lol) and what clinched it was the proverbial "resale" return. It would make our house unique as the ranches with no basements are usually the only ones with main level laundry rooms, but they are smaller with less storage unless they are on the water and the prices are much higher than even my neighborhood. We could have used the space to make the kitchen even bigger, but our new layout has a very good amount of work area with plenty of pantry & storage cabinets, so how much bigger would we need?

I guess I am trying to say that resale potential should be a consideration but not a driving force, unless you expect to move soon. When in doubt, if you are torn between choices, it is good to consider it. If you want something to enjoy for you and your family, then don't worry about future buyers. You will only need 1 person/family to love your house and what you do may clinch it for them.

I'm 100% in agreement with Pinch_me's post.

Here are my other random thoughts on the issues discussed:

I've always been taught, too, that rent is money down the drain. Not that home ownership isn't expensive, but I couldn't rent for what we've paid as a house payment, and the initial outlay isn't lost. Like anything, I think, it depends on if you buy 'used' or 'new,' and can build equity through, not only time, but some elbow grease.

With the size of our family, I can't really worry as much about the desires of buyers in general, as I have to fit our family in a place we can afford. I can't presume to guess who will like or not like the same things I do. If I sell, they are free to change whatever they'd like! I think that we usually have enough in location, size, and other features to appeal to potential buyers. Some like garage space, others like fancy bathrooms. I can't meet all the desires, and only need one buyer to like the house. The buyers of our last house even love the backsplash tiles with our kids' hand and foot prints on them! I was prepared with extra tiles so possible future buyers could switch them out, but after 5 yrs, I hear those tiles are still there and the current owners show them off to guests. Who could have guessed that one?

The one thing I would add, that as a buyer, I can deal with and appreciate color and style that isn't mine if it's done to a T and fits the house, as some of the kitchens I see posted here. I'd much rather purchase a house with good character than with bland and blah neutrals (Beige, white, and more beige) meant to be the blank slate beneficial to resale.

In most cases, I'd welcome the chance to make it mine, and realize that some buyers don't....But I would definitely be glad to see Formica I can change over granite I'm not crazy about, or that cements a kitchen layout I'm not crazy about. Plus, the buyers are probably expecting a better price because of the granite that I don't like...

My uncle, (Mother's only brother) rented a house for 20 years , near Los Angeles. On the 20th year, the owner of the house came by and threw out my Uncle (by his ear).
The owner said, "You just paid for my house--, I don't want anybody as dumb as you, around here)"! My Uncle never did rent again after that!!

Gary

Today my husband made the incredible statement that if you remodel the correct way, you will never have to do it again. I personally think he is deluded. Homes get outdated. While a $5000 remodel might not handle the wear and tear better than a $100,000 remodel, at the end of the day, both kitchens will look outdated in 10-15 years. So I think the best way to handle this remodelling thing is to change what needs to be changed to keep your house in marketable condition if the need arises to sell suddenly. That means doing a professional remodel at no more than mid price and make tasteful choices once your kitchen and/or baths start to look old and worn. Your choices don't have to be the flavor of the day, but they do have to be well thought out and not too extreme. If you must, use accessories or wall paint color to express your individuality, not a strange looking countertop or extreme tile pattern. Concentrate on your kitchen and baths and don't get too caught up in the other rooms. And if you are really adverse to any one thing, for example, you just HATE granite, then don't put it in your home. With so many other selections, there is no need to make yourself miserable living in surroundings that do not bring you joy and satisfaction.

No, I'm not flipping. Have lived in this house 38 years.

I would like to add to the converstation a comment I heard about the downturn in the economy and the insane policies of the unscrupulous who gave credit to those who did not deserve it. The commentator said that the easy mortgage credit environment turned good renters into lousy homeowners, that the personal investment in a home is a lot more than the house payment each month and that many are unready for the implications of ownership.

The "American dream" of home ownership is actually a middle class assumption that is not necessarily true. It is a good thing for a certain sector of the population, but not true for all. On the high end and on the low end, there are people who are good renters but not good homeowners, whether it is from the point of view of skills, money, motivation, time, cohort, or whatever. Books that analyze the rich often mention that yards, neighborhoods, pride in home ownership, etc. are not interesting to them. They have other priorities and may need to be more fluid in their access to cash.

I would also add that when questioned, almost everyone in the U.S. claims to be in the middle class, even the very wealthy and those in the opposite situation.

As for the post-WWII generation, they had lived for a decade before the war under their parents' roofs even if they were old enough to live alone--the result of the Depression. By the late 1940s and early 1950s, there was a supply of affordable homes to meet the demand that the returning servicemen were creating. By the mid-1950s, most could afford to live on their own. It was the development of the surburban housing development, but you will find extreme differences between the 1947 home I grew up in and the 1957 and 1967 homes that came to surround it. The later ones had appliances, conveniences, additional space, better internal walkpaths, etc. My childhood home was more like the homes of the 1930s that were created for the well-to-do escapees from the city who created that first band of housing in the first tier suburbs, almost manor houses, but my Dad's house was on a much smaller scale and required much more restraint in all kinds of in-house activities. And it was created without the good quality millwork and pipes and electrical fittings that became available in a few more years. But the craftsmanship was first class and the second owner recognized this when buying from us in 2005, after the prices had peaked. He got a deal, but I freely admit that the kitchen was essentially a late 1930s kitchen. My point in describing this is that my parents were particularly motivated in becoming independent homeowners because of their personal situation; my uncles remained under their parents roofs--mostly rented roofs--until well into the 1950s. Even then, they frequently needed mentoring by Dad, who knew much that a renter would have been unaware of or could not accomplish alone.

Not sure why this is the "Perfect House" thread.

Renting can be a very sensible option, depending upon one's life style and needs. My mother just bought a house after living abroad for a few years. I think this was the wrong move for her - far less stress and expense renting. But she is of the school that people who rent are throwing away money - hardly. Rent buys shelter, a basic human need. And home ownership is expensive and often unpredictably expensive, not necessarily a great combination for a retired person on a fixed income or for someone without a regular income. On the other hand, she has VERY exacting tastes and loves to renovate and redecorate and she doesn't want to add value to a home she doesn't own.

I don't intend to flip my house, but it is tough for me to set aside "re-sale considerations." My DH and I have owned four houses in the last 12 or 13 years, I actually like moving and buying and selling houses. My last kitchen renovation (the dark-stained cherry kitchen) I built to my tastes, but knowing that I wouldn't stay in that house long. I did the reno with re-sale in mind. Your question Pinch was "didn't you like the house when you bought it?". Sure I did, but I had a hunch it wasn't our last move. I got into the preferred neighbourhood, and I loved the house, but it wasn't perfect. Not enough of a garden for me. We lived there for four years, had two children there and made a good profit when we sold.

We've been in our current house for two years. I did this renovation very specifically for my tastes - I know many people probably don't like my kitchen. That said, it of a relatively high quality which most people can appreciate and I did restrain my tastes a little, with re-sale in mind - because you never know. In theory we plan to live in this house until the kids are off to university, so another 15 or 16 years. We will move overseas for a few years with the kids at some point - we'll probably rent the house out for that period, but we may sell. So it isn't far from my mind.

But it is (almost) the perfect house to my mind - beautiful neighbourhood, perfect size, lovely garden and of course a (virtually) perfect kitchen - IMHO anyway. But you never know. ;)

I think there are great masses of people who live in houses that have essentially whatever kitchen and bath was in the house when they bought it, until they are forced to change it by failure of something major.

We bought our house with the agreement that we would do a modest extension and re-do the kitchen. We paid below what we could have afforded and our plan was solid. Then the economy tanked at the same time our relative/contractor told us the plans we just got a variance for were $120k over budget. At almost exactly the one year mark, everything was put on hold, with boxes of materials stuffed everywhere in our house.

Fast forward, we are 4 years older/wiser than when we moved in and about to embark on the original plan with a different contractor. We scaled back what the first one and architect cooked up after hearing my more modest ideas. Dh remarked recently about how we are now getting what we set out to get, before things got inflated, and it is true. Too bad we had to spend for blueprints that were too grand and also had to re-apply for the variance which is costly and time consuming.
If we knew then.....
I would gladly do this renovation once and then replace things as need be. I do not think houses need new kitchens and baths every 10-15 years. If we followed every trend, maybe, but we don't. I also think cars should be used until the cost of repairs exceed their worth. Some people think they need a new car every 3-5 years. That is not us.

I've run the numbers. There have been occasional blips in the markets in particular regions where at least in the short term (5 years), owning a single family house actually costs less than renting. My point was long term (20 years). If you actually conservatively invest the money you would have spent on the house--minus bonuses like mortgage tax credit--you usually end up way in front on sheer numbers.

None of that addresses the pleasure or secure feeling of owning one's own home. My father is also a WWII vet. And he pointed out all the dingbat houses that were thrown up in a hurry for the returning GIs. Pokey little things on tiny lots that weren't supposed to last more than 10 years. But then, of course, neighborhoods had been made and all, so these have been remodelled and remodelled trying to make them more livable.

Throw away money on rent? What about throw away money on interest? The interest equation is improved if you have the cash and are using it on investments that have a higher return than your mortgage. Otherwise, you're working to pay the bank for the privilege of living in their house for the first 7 years or so. For those with big loans, what about throwing away more money on mortgage insurance? Relying on the speculative rise in market value to increase your equity? You might hit the jackpot. Most people don't gain that much after you adjust for inflation.

Just saying.

Not sure why everyone was jumping on me. I was sticking up for the people who are relying on their house as their primary asset.

I imagine some of this just depends on where you live and what stage of life you're in---we live in a high-cost market, and even post-bust it's still inordinately more expensive to own than to rent, no matter how you crunch the numbers. People who bought before the boom are in good shape, but everyone else is owning for the less tangible reasons, not because it's likely to be the financially prudent thing to do. It also means the starter home is still alive and well, in contrast to less costly markets.

That said, I do think about resale a lot in remodeling---not because I have pipe dreams of getting back the cost of projects, but because I know this isn't a long-term house for us, and in the not-so-distant future, someone else will be deciding whether they think it's as great a house as we do. So when there's a decision to make, I try to remember that we won't be the only ones living here in the lifetime of this kitchen (e.g., the green cabinets and floor DH really wants...they'll probably be white and gray with green walls instead, so that when people like pinch_me come shopping for a house, it won't be so daunting to imagine changing it!)

Why did we buy it if it's not a forever house? Well---I love our house, and it's perfect for us right now. But it's tiny, and it may start to feel too small if our family grows. Things about our neighborhood that are great for singles and young families---having lots of night life and restaurants nearby, walking to the playground or the local toddlers' amusement park, great preschools and elementary schools but lousy middle schools, etc.---may not be as good a fit for us later in life. But I don't see much sense in paying for space we won't need for another 10-15 years, or trying to guess what we might want then. So---we're here now, and we love it; when it's time, we'll pass it on to the next owners, and they'll hopefully enjoy the work we've put into it---as we've enjoyed the upgrades (and preservation work) of owners past.

I'm not quite sure if that answers the original question, but it's why I feel at ease balancing our needs and questions of resale. Our house's first kitchen lasted 25 years, and the second will be on year 71 when we demo in a few weeks; I hope we can do a good enough job with Kitchen 3.0 that it can be just as long-lived, if people want it to be.

I'm in my house for the long haul too. Has nothing to do with a good financial decision, although our place has appreciated tenfold since we built. We love our home & our location. I've got neighbors in one direction living in an old cheese factory and in another direction a $20,000,000 luxury home. We live in the country, so this perhaps makes things a bit different when you talk about keeping up with the neighborhood.

I think all the talk about resale value is more about lifestyle and what stage of life you're in. In our twenties, of course, we knew we would want to resell our (smallest & smaller) homes. At that time we did what we could afford, which was meager at best. In our thirties, when we had our kids, we knew we wanted to build the type of home where we could raise our kids and designed accordingly. Now that our eldest is about to leave for college I've been thinking about when we get older. That we DIDN'T think about. We didn't even put a full bath on the first floor much less a bedroom! We do, however, have room to add a tub and an extra room that could become a bedroom if it had to. Many people at our stage in life start to think about downsizing; not us, but some people.

THE most important thing to me was paying off our mortgage. Most things we read argued against this. However, for us it was more psychological than anything else. Just the other day at coffee with some friends they were complaining about their mortgages. Anyway, when I didn't say anything they asked about ours. When I said we paid it off two years ago they about fainted. Two out of the three wondered how we did it and said they would trade places in a heartbeat. (The third is still too in love with her new soapstone counters I think!HA)

So, in answer to the OP I think where you are in your life drives this decision alot more than anything else! Great thread!

I remember when we purchased homes in the 70s, 80s and even early 90s that, as long as the kitchen and bath functioned well, we lived around what was there. We might re-paint, replace old carpet or worn linoleum, and sometimes we might replace the formica with new formica (if it was damaged or really the wrong color) -- but, we did live with the house pretty much the way we found it....AS long as everything was functional.

BUT, this was before the obsession with decorating, re-decorating, HGTV and other decorating-focused TV shows. There were magazines with decorating themes, but they showed how to do small DIY projects....not major remodels.

I look at our current obsession with remodeling -- especially at the first minute something gets "out-dated" -- as a bill of goods the decorating industry has sold us. It drives me nuts when I see a young couple purchasing their first, entry-level home, talk about how out-dated the kitchen is, and therefore the house is not for them. In reality, it's a very practical, fully functioning kitchen that may not have all the bells and whistles.

I think it's sad that our culture has become remodeling obsessed...especially since most people don't have the financial resources to fund their remodel, and recoup their investment --- This is a general comment about our national culture...not the GW forum members.

For myself, I've owned this house for 21 years, and have lived in it for 11 years. It was built in 1978, and when I returned to the house 5 years ago and retired here, I did decide to update it to a 2005 house with features that weren't available when the house was built in 1978 --- whole house security system, smart house technology, and remodeled kitchen, baths, wooden floors throughout, etc. BUT, I do not intend to do this again. I selected the look I love (which I think is fairly timeless), the colors I love, and I'm going to live in this house till the bitter end. If that's 20 years from now, then the next owner will have to figure out how to make this home their own. But I'm not supporting the design/decorating industry again. I'm very content with what I've done and I'm happily done! :)

Have to agree with plllog that owning is not always more cost effective than renting. We experienced that exact thing when we moved to the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC in 2002. The house buying frenzy that we encountered bordered on irrational. We decided to rent and ended up renting for six years. In 2008 when we retired it would have been impossible to sell a house in the area, let alone recoup any investment.

Had we purchased the home we rented, we would have lost at least $150K and that's after deducting the rent paid.

Many people we met there were surprised and even questioned our judgment at the time, but in that time frame it turned out to be the best decision. Those who purchased in 2002 and sold prior to 2007 made money, but a lot of people got caught in the downturn.

Even if the value of your home increases over time, it may only be due to inflation so you really stay the same. You also have to look at the full cost of buying a home, the total loan pay out and other costs when deciding which works best. The value of the mortgage interest and tax deduction is not a dollar for dollar credit. It is based on the total deductions and your tax bracket. Only the amount over the standard deduction has any tax value.

There are many good reasons to buy your own home, but don't count on an increase in value as one of them.

Interesting thread.

I do want to say, you really can't decide whether to buy or rent based on pithy sayings inherited from another generation. It comes down to math. You either rent your house, or rent the money to buy it. Which makes more financial sense always depends on current conditions, especially on home prices vs. rents.

Beyond that, beth4 really put her finger on something. People's choices aren't driven by trends in a vacuum. Those trends are often created by forces that people don't even know are there.

After WWII, Americans had earned lots of money due to the stimulus of massive war spending, but also had saved it up because of rationing. The time was ripe for a big consumer boom. Production had to shift from war machines to automobiles and consumer goods. Returning GIs had to be educated and put back to work. So, suburbs really took off. All those economic forces created the American Dream of home ownership--it wasn't something that just came out of thin air.

Same with the renovation boom. For thirty years, there has been a concerted effort to massively reduce the income and standard of living of the middle class. This has been pursued through tax policies plus fake "free-trade" (try to buy a sink from Canada, tile from Asia or a kitchen organizer from England as a consumer if you think we have "free" trade) and other strategies. It has worked beautifully, and now the Great Recession has put the total destruction of the middle class temptingly within grasp; they can almost taste the obliteration of Social Security for the middle class, combined with higher middle-class taxes and big tax cuts for hedge fund managers. They might succeed.

Anyway, there was only one problem with this strategy: No middle class, no market for goods and services. Which really cuts into the investment returns of the elite. The only solution was to let the middle class borrow the money it needed, since they could not be permitted to earn it. And what kinds of things can you borrow huge sums of money to buy? Voila! A housing bubble. Voila! HGTV.

People think they're just following fashion. But fashion can have purpose, and that purpose may be to please somebody other than you.

We bought our first home 20 yrs ago, gutted it and remodeled it to our own tastes. Fortunately we were ahead of the curve and now our floorplan is considered highly desirable. We knew this was NEVER our forever house. It is too difficult to maintain in old age. Therefore, everything we do is: 1) to please us, balanced with: 2) resale considerations.

RE remains expensive here, even with a 25% drop. Renting still works out more positive than buying, especially in rent-controlled cities, of which there are a great many in the immediate area.

Even figuring in the tax savings, in 20 yrs we've made 3.4% ROI, counting in everything (including increased utilities and landscaping). Our portfolio has returned 7.6% over 25 years, after fees.

The house was a decent savings account, but not exceptional in ROI.

no flipping.

we bought because we loved the neighborhood and the schools. the houses are a little smaller than a lot around us but the neighborhood has character unfound in many neighborhoods.

if we were to sell it would be to upgrade to a bigger house. this one is less than 2000 sq ft.

so with every decision i make i think, how would this work for resale. i want to love it but i also dont want my choices to dissuade a multitude of buyers. in addition, i want to make choices that are neutral enough that i won't get sick of them. i love the look of a new england farmhouse - classic in my opinion. i feel it is neutral enough to appeal to lots of buyers should we sell but it is also a style i love!

we've already done a lot to our home inside and out and plan to continue until it is how we want it. lucky for us we were one of the least expensive single family hmes for the neighborhood when we bought - so we will not tbe pricing the home out of the neighborhood with our upgrades. i think that is important too to do what you want with your home but consider the neighborhood and if you will get back most of what you put in and if it is appropriate for our neighborhood.

you can do what you love in your home but know not everyone may like it and it may not help sell your home if the time should come that you need to sell.

I think the real estate and mortgage interest deductions are forgotten by a few posters. Taxes here are in the $10k a year range where I live (and some pay up to $40k, but that is the luxury market). Landlords pass along the costs to the tenants so rents here are high. We write off the taxes and interest and that reduces their costs by a bit.
Another comment about the first 7 years being mostly interest is true but only for a 30 year loan. We have a 15 year loan and the interest dropoff is much faster. We could have afforded to buy a more expensive house with a 30 year mortgage or even with another 15 year, but we chose to underpay and do the modifications. Since our house is the ugly runt of the block, our potential for return is pretty good in the long run.
Any short time span, such as the past few years, is not representative of the usual return on investment. The span just before that was an anomaly as well. Over the long run, real estate works out to a good investment and the tax breaks really add to that. Anyone jumping in and out of owning will be gambling. If you go from owning a house to owning another house, you are selling high and buying high or selling low and buying low, unless you change regions or states. Some areas have been hit by the recession more than others. If you are staying local, it all evens out. The bigger timing factor is interest rates. Timing there is much more important whether it is when to buy or when to refinance.

I thought I might offer a different idea behind considering resale.

My house has horrible resale value. I did things to it that everyone else thinks is nuts and I am pretty okay with that. However, when I talk to clients and friends we don't talk about resale so much as "extended value".

If you think of your home not just being yours but also extending both into the shared past but also into future then it could be an opportunity to take the next owner into your thoughts as not just a cash cow but as a friendly smiling face that your are working with and for. Then instead of maximizing profit you may start to regard it as providing value.

I know it sounds a little hokey but for many of us our houses are by far the most expensive things we will ever own and the remodels will create a real impact in your lives and the lives of later owners in a way that will create ripples through their lives.

I would never want someone to hold back on what they want but it's so nice to live in a house someone else remodeled with a long eye towards the possible later owners rather than just themselves.

Great point made my beth4. I was watching a video of myself made 20 years ago in our first house. The kitchen was functional but ugly, the family room dark and old fashioned, even for that time. But you know, it was our first home and we were in love with it. We knew we would need to make updates, but we also were fine with living in the house the way it was, for as long as we needed to save, in order to make updates. And we aren't talking about MAJOR work. Over the next 8 years we stripped wallpaper, changed our flooring, painted and repaired and added on to a deck. Granted we did remodel the kitchen right before we sold, but it was an inexpensive remodel that hardly made a dent in our finances. My teenaged daughter (who was born after we sold the house) was horrified as she watched the video with me and could not believe I would be willing to live in such an "old" looking house.

My, how things have changed. Yes, a lot of this has to do with the remodeling industry. But I also think that we were in a different place (before the most recent crash) economically as a country, than we were 20-25 years ago. We had about two decades of prosperity, incredibly escalating real estate values and the mindset that things would continue this way. In 1994, when we sold that old house we made a puny $35,000 profit on the sale ( after owning it for 8 years). In the following two years, our new home increased in value over $100,000! With such a rapid escalation, it no longer seemed a stretch to start pouring money into our homes and making them our own "mini-castles." After all, we knew we would get every penny back and even more. Why not remodel and enjoy the results AND make a profit? It was a no brainer. That no longer is the case. However, we still haven't been able to give up the mindset of the booming past. The younger generation grew up in perfectly updated surroundings and they are the ones now looking to purchase their first homes. They aren't willing to compromise because of the way they grew up. They don't know anything different. So we have created our own monster. I think we have entered a period of time in home ownership where there are no set answers and uncertainty overwhelms us all. Of course you do not spend money on a house if you don't have the money to spend. That is what got us into this mess in the first place. Today, I am 5 years away from paying off my mortgage and still have many, many years before I hit retirement age. My house is still worth a considerable amount more today than when I purchased it. I do not feel guilty about spending money to remodel that home. But then again, I can AFFORD to remodel. If we live within our means, the quality of our lives becomes inmeasurably improved. Hopefully, we can instill that idea into younger generatation. Jeez, what a rambling message this has been. Sorry.