CASHING IN ON PRIDE OF OWNERSHIP
“The Internet has made a huge difference in home remodelling. … People see these amazing designs and it gets their heads spinning to all kinds of options.”
BUGS BUNNY HOMES — that’s the term Donna Bacher uses.
They’re the houses that look like your average digs until you get inside and see that, like Bugs’ unassuming rabbit hole, they’re done up like the Taj Mahal.
Elaborate deck layouts surrounding pools and hot tubs. Garages that feel like sports stadiums. Backyard kitchens with pizza ovens. Granite countertops throughout. Saunas.
It’s a kind of investment in the home that’s much more common now than it was 30 years ago, when Bacher says she was starting out as a real estate agent. And the uptick is being felt by local companies. From landscapers and pool suppliers to décor and renovation companies, the passion people have for their homes has translated into bigger business in the Hamilton area.
Bacher, president of the Realtors As- sociation of Hamilton-Burlington, says one of the reasons for the surge is that money is cheaper and easier to get these days.
“Interest rates definitely fuel a market like this and they fuel home improvement and that’s all f antastic for the local economy,” she says.
In part, the desire people have to make their homes sanctuaries has been influenced by the Internet.
In the ’80s, you had to actively look into décor and re-modelling by meeting with a designer, visiting an open house, or buying a magazine.
Now, infinite options are available from the comfort of the couch you didn’t know you needed to replace until you saw someone else’s on Instagram.
“Now (people) understand, ‘oh there’s 75 different styles of trim as opposed to just this one style that I’ve been used to all my life,’” says Ryan Corkilo, trim specialist at Turkstra’s Designer Showcase in Stoney Creek.
“The education factor alone, of what they can see with all the TV shows that are out there and everything, they’re more educated in coming to us with things.”
Blogs including Design Sponge and Apartment Therapy feature new design schemes daily. You could forever browse housewares on websites such as Etsy and Pinterest. Home décor shows are slotted shoulder-to-shoulder on HGTV.
When customers walk into Take Us For Granite on the east mountain, they ask for Caesarstone quartz countertops.
Granite is still king, says sales associate Marcia Corcoran, but ever since Bryan Baeumler, host of reno show “Leave It To Bryan,” started using Cae- sarston, demand for it has noticeably increased.
It’s an upgrade Corcoran says can increase the resale value of a house by $10, 000.
“The Internet has made a huge difference in the modelling world for a whole bunch of different reasons,” agrees Shane Van Barneveld, owner of Shane Renovations, an Ancaster company that does additions and remodels. “People see these amazing designs and stuff and it gets their heads spinning to all kinds of options, which helps us.”
Even when people come to him with a firm $200,000 budget, he says it’s not uncommon for them to nudge that number up to $275,000. When they’re planning to stay in the home for 15 or 20 years (which he sees a lot of ), they consider it a worthwhile investment.
“People don’t want to travel to cottages anymore. They’re dual-income families, they’re working more and more. They just want to dump money into their houses and stay put.”
That said, Van Barneveld acknowledges that Hamilton’s current real estate market means it doesn’t matter if you don’t have the most up-to-the-minute fixtures and furnishings.
He’s seeing bidding wars in neighbourhoods where bidding wars were unheard of 10 years ago.
“I think the whole flipping craze is kind of done right now,” he says. “And that’s 100 per cent due to the market, because people are selling houses that should be worth $200,000 for $350,000.”
That said, extra touches can boost your bids even higher.
People are looking at their backyards as extensions of their homes, says Bob Simpson, owner of The Pool Shoppe. They’re creating the kinds of mini-retreats there that can make prospective buyers f all in love with the idea of a certain lifestyle.
“Every house that I’ve ever sold, you try to create a dream and somebody walks in the backyard and says ‘I want that,’” says Bob Simpson, owner of The Pool Shoppe.
He does admit, though, some people don’t want a pool. It’s a matter of finding the right audience.
As Bacher points out, a pool starts depreciating in value the minute it’s installed.
One thing that won’t decline that way is the garden that surrounds a pool.
“Unlike the hardscape elements (driveways, fences), a well-designed plant scheme in a garden will actually appreciate in value,” says Owen Reeves, owner of Outside Elements, a soft-scaping company that works in the Golden Horseshoe. “In fact, it’s the only thing you can do in your home that will appreciate in value. With plants, because they get better with age, a well-designed and maintained garden will be more valuable in year-five than year-one.”
Reeves says it’s also important not to discount the value of mature trees. Because they take so long to grow, he always cautions clients against cutting them down.
By his estimate, a good healthy tree, well-placed on a lawn, can increase property values by up to $10,000.
There’s an idea people have, he says, of a “good neighbourhood.” It includes ample tree coverage, shaded areas, broad leafy canopies.
“You’re selling a feeling,” Bacher says. A customizable mind trip. People want to be able to picture themselves happy in a home. In the end, that’s what’s behind this passion people have for home.
Bacher has a word of warning. She’s been at it long enough to know design has a shelf life. Everything new becomes old, even the laminate cabinets you thought were cutting edge in 1985.
“I can say ‘I walked into this house once and said ‘wow look at these cabinets. We’ve got to jump on this right away,’” she laughs.
The same thing is likely to happen to 30 years from now.
Bacher’s advice is to focus on what makes you happy and comfortable in your home.