I Spy Graphics

When we bought this brownstone two years ago, we had big plans for the place. The real estate market was hot, and it seemed unlikely that the house could ever depreciate. Boy were we wrong. The $4.2m we paid for the house is about 10% more than what we could sell it for today. It should be no surprise then that our guts were telling us that it wasn’t worth investing in the house until it was clear that we would be able to recover what we paid for the house originally, never mind trying to build equity in a down market. This an error a lot of people are making now, particularly in the brownstone market, which has cooled off a bit in the past couple of years: they are reluctant to invest in improvements until they can realize a break-even on their purchase of the house, because it is unclear whether improvements will increase home values at all in this Brooklyn market.

Yet this sentiment is misguided for three reasons: first, a home is first and foremost a place to live – not a security, not an IRA, not annuity. Second, foregoing improvements now risks missing out on the lower costs of construction during what is something of a lull (you can save about 15% versus 2 years ago) and makes it so that when the market does turn, homeowners will have nothing unique or distinguishable about theirs houses. Last, in a market like this, discrepancies in urban home values are attributable almost entirely to curb appeal and readiness – that is, how ready to go the home is for a prospective buyer. Adding new kitchens and new bathrooms with custom touches is a good way to create such a distinction.

With this thinking in mind, we contracted a Brooklyn contemporary kitchen designer to help with the remodeling of our kitchen, because in the end, we will have a much nicer home, will have gotten a good deal on our construction, will have made the house unique, and will have made it more livable and increased its value in the current market should we decide to sell.