Transformative Homes with Mitchell Thompson Interiors

Smart Design Investments: Living Well Now, Selling Higher Later

• Roy & Diane Mitchell • Episode 10

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What Are The Most Valuable Home Updates In Terms Of Resale Value?

Smart homeowners know a secret: the best time to update your home isn't right before selling – it's years earlier. In this eye-opening episode, Roy and Diane Mitchell, with over 50 years of combined interior design expertise, challenge conventional wisdom about home improvements and resale value.

The creative force behind Mitchell Thompson Interiors reveals how last-minute renovations often lead to wasted money, generic results, and significant price reductions when homes hit the market. Instead, they advocate for thoughtful, ongoing updates that serve double-duty: enhancing your daily living experience while simultaneously building value that pays off at selling time.

"Why not live and keep your house updated?" Roy asks, questioning the logic of renovating solely for the next owner's benefit. Diane adds practical financial perspective, noting that price reductions on outdated homes frequently exceed what strategic improvements would have cost – sometimes by tens of thousands of dollars.

The conversation delves into specific high-return investments, from quality kitchen appliances that eliminate buyer objections to well-designed master closets that create daily satisfaction while making powerful impressions during showings. Perhaps most valuably, the Mitchells share a cautionary tale about generic "mass appeal" strategies, including a disastrous gray paint recommendation that actually deterred potential buyers.

Whether you're planning to sell soon or simply want to maximize enjoyment of your current home, this episode provides a framework for making design decisions that enhance both lifestyle and eventual resale value. Schedule your complimentary 30-minute discovery call at MitchellThompsonInteriors.com and learn how Roy and Diane can help transform your space into a home that truly reflects your unique needs while building lasting value.

To learn more about Mitchell Thompson Interiors visit:
http://www.MitchellThompsonInteriors.com
Mitchell Thompson Interiors

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Transformative Homes with Mitchell Thompson Interiors. Join hosts Roy and Diane Mitchell, the creative force behind Mitchell Thompson Interiors, who together bring over 50 years of expertise of residential interior design across the US. Are you navigating a major life transition, upsizing or downsizing your home, purchasing a vacation home or redefining your space? You've found the team to guide you so your home truly reflects your unique dreams. Stay tuned and learn how to schedule a complimentary 30-minute discovery call. Let's delve into today's topic thinking of selling.

Speaker 2:

Roy and Diane, reveal which design investments pay off the most and which ones to skip when you're looking to boost resale value. Welcome back everyone. I'm Sophia Yvette, co-host, slash producer, back in the studio with Roy and Diane Mitchell, owners of Mitchell Thompson Interiors. Roy and Diane, how's it going today? Awesome, how are you, hi, sophia? Hi, I'm doing well. So everyone wants to know what are the most valuable home updates in terms of resale value.

Speaker 3:

Well, Sophia, I'm glad you asked that question and I'd like the homeowners to really think about when they get ready, think about putting their house up for sale. But the other thing is why not update your house way before you sell it? Maybe five years, 10 years or whatever it is? Why not live and keep your house updated, Therefore you're able to enjoy it, rather than put your house up for sale and do all the things that you need to do to sell it, and you haven't really lived in it and you haven't really enjoyed it, so the other person that you sold it to is going to enjoy it.

Speaker 3:

Doesn't make sense to me.

Speaker 4:

Absolutely. Yeah, yes, no, we. We have multiple examples of being called in to help someone update their home prior to putting it on a listing for sale. And first of all, at that point you really don't want to spend a lot of money because you're just bringing it to the market standard that people say are trends that are going to sell the home. Everybody paints everything neutral and it's not a good economical situation.

Speaker 4:

The other thing that happens is when you list something that either has been hodgepodge together to try to look current on the market or has not been updated in 10 years. The first thing that happens after two weeks on the market with low offers or no offers, the real estate agent asks you to drop the price. And when you drop the price even if you only come off, you know, 2%, whatever, I mean you're looking at $30,000, $50,000, maybe $100,000. And that is money that is being lost in the transaction. But if you had put that money into your home over the years and had kept it updated, enjoyed it for yourself and now you could put it on the market feeling confident that you're current, then that's a win-win for everybody. You're much less likely to have to come down on your price and you've been able to enjoy the home all of those years in between.

Speaker 4:

Roy and I are very big on creating a home that fits the family that lives there. And even when you're in a house let's say, somebody gets a consulting agreement for a couple of years even when you're living in that home for two years, that home needs to meet your needs. It needs to fit your family and meet your needs and that is never going to be money wasted. When you've been able to enjoy it, it's functioned well for you, you've been able to be your best self for the best purpose. You're engaging in the community and then when you need to sell it, even if it's within two years, it's gonna be a profitable sale. I agree.

Speaker 2:

Now getting into the specifics of those home updates a bit more what kitchen updates give the best return on investment?

Speaker 4:

You know, when you walk through a listing and you're looking at what's going on in the home, we always say the thing that you want to do is take away any problems, that the potential homeowner could say oh my gosh, look at that oven, it's 25 years old, I'm going to have to buy a new oven. You know, that is kind of the context within.

Speaker 3:

Refrigeration appliances. Those are really important to people. I know for myself, diane, when you're looking through a kitchen and you see 30-year-old refrigeration stoves it's kind of a turnoff. The other turnoff is all the greenery up on the cabinets. You won't believe we had one house that it took us two days to get rid of greenery throughout the house. It was on every elevated surface elevated services. I mean just take away anything, or I saw that people their eye is drawn to yeah, not to mention the dust bunnies, but so you know there are mostly.

Speaker 4:

You know people talk a lot about countertops and those are. That's an expensive hard surface and that's something that you want to keep current in your everyday use of the kitchen and the appliances, including the, you know, lovely professional kitchen faucets. Um, good, good, functioning dishwashers. You know you don't have to go all the way to like, you know, warming drawers and wine refrigerators and you know all of that and wine refrigerators and all of that. You just need to have a good, basic, well-founded, functioning kitchen.

Speaker 2:

Understood. Now one final question for you both today how do you advise clients on style versus mass appeal?

Speaker 4:

mass appeal yeah, we go for style. We definitely go for style, and I'll tell you what the downfall is. Okay, so we had a client and we had worked on this home for I don't know a year or so and she found herself in a position to sell it and a realtor came in and told her she needed to paint the entire house gray. So this was probably seven years ago. Gray was coming into vogue.

Speaker 4:

Well, gray is a very tricky paint color. If anybody's tried to use it, you know that you can have purple gray, you can have green gray, you can have blue gray, you can have black gray. You know, oh, it's very, very tricky. Somebody picked a paint color, painted all of the walls in this house and it came out lavender and it was not pretty, it was not attractive and, like I was just saying about taking away the reason somebody would not move into the house, that paint color was a reason not to move into the house because it was everywhere so there comes in hiring a designer to help you out to make the right decision, rather than going on somebody.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, they sell houses, yes, they do, but knowing the right colors for number one. We talked, I think, last session about lighting. Well, lighting is so important to the home, especially with paint colors and and fabrics, there you go. That would be one way you should hire a professional designer to to help you out with colors and textures and whatever you're going to do throughout the house and knowing what's current.

Speaker 4:

Absolutely so. The you know the question about mass appeal versus style. We definitely want the homeowner to be comfortable in the home and you know, if this is the home that has, you know, warm tiles and warm carpeting and, you know, maybe even some beautiful wood moldings, going in there and painting that wall gray is just very disturbing and upsetting to the feel of the house. So it's much, it's much smarter to stick with the kind of the basic style and what the homeowner is comfortable with than to go in and just do a blanket. Oh, everybody likes agreeable gray. You know it doesn't work in every home.

Speaker 3:

Rather than let's talk about paint colors, let's talk about the other thing is, I think that master bedrooms and closets are the next major thing that clients need to keep updated, especially the closets. How you work and every morning you're going through your closet picking out your clothes and your shoes, and then you have the lighting that compliments your clothing. That is so important when a client, especially with a realtor walking through the home and oh, you've got to think about the client walking through the home as they're selling it they're imagining their self living there. Okay, so if you can imagine yourself walking through this house, oh, my god, especially the lady. Oh, my goodness, I have tons of shoes and look at this rack, you know. Or hanging dresses, you know, or hanging dresses, you know, or those things matter.

Speaker 3:

Jewelry drawers Jewelry drawers for Middle Island, especially in some of the larger homes in Texas. You have these massive closets and those islands are great and especially with lighting, you pull out the drawer and you have lighting that just accentuate all your jewelry. Can you just imagine this? All right, well, that can be done. Yep, right awesome.

Speaker 2:

Well, as always, roy and diane, that's some very informative information. Thank you so much for taking the time today to fill our listeners in, and we'll catch you on the next episode. Thank you, sophia.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for tuning in. That's a wrap on this episode of Transformative Homes. Are you ready to begin the journey toward elevating your home and lifestyle? Visit MitchellThompsonInteriorscom and schedule your complimentary 30-minute discovery. Call Roy and Diane will explore making your vision your reality. Join us for the next episode as we continue discussing elevated lifestyles through the lens of interior design. One unique and exquisite home at a time.