REAL ESTATE TIPS: Think about future before investing in a certain ‘style’

The early ’90s was the height of fashion, literally. The higher the hair, the more beautiful you were. That was my era. Like every other girl in junior high and high school at the time, I wanted to be as beautiful as the girl who had the fashion thing figured out. Anyone else remember what beautiful looked like then?

Tall hair and hair spray were our best friends. Forget what natural beauty one had or didn’t have, if a girl had tall, stiff bangs, she had “the look.” I wonder how many parents who had seen how styles change from generation to generation were smart enough to buy stock in hairspray companies and sell just as they saw the market turn so to speak.

And then we had the pegged pants. You remember those? I was jealous of the girl who figured out how to make both “pegs” even across the bottom. Mine never seemed to match up and they were never comfortable on my legs, although I can’t imagine it was comfortable for anyone.

Convinced that we were making ourselves beautiful for pictures we would view 25 years later and convinced that fashion had finally peaked and women finally had it right for the first time in generations, we sprayed and pegged on.

Then it happened, time passed. And just like the women before us, we look at our junior high/high school pictures and laugh. What were we thinking? If we laugh, our kids laugh harder. They wonder things like how many bugs did we get stuck in our stiff hair, did we have a budget line for hairspray, why did we think pegged jeans were awesome when clearly having holes all over your jeans is a much better look (insert sarcasm).

Did you know that the cosmetic style of homes comes and goes like the style of clothes? Only with homes, the more you try to make it look current in its style, the more it tends to date itself within a few years. I have said it before but it is worth saying again, this is why you should make sure that anything you do to your house is because you like it, not because a magazine or designer says that it is the way to go. If you don’t, in a few years when the features aren’t “it” anymore, you will have a dated house that you may or may not like anymore.

For example, there is a house that I drive by that has a lot of great features. Great location and beautiful lot ‑ things that will be in style for years. But when it comes to the finishes, the house screams 2019. That is a great thing for today and probably the next few years. But in 10 years, when someone drives by this particular house, the comments will be along the lines of  “that house must be about 10 years old” or “I love the house but it is dated a bit.”

Again, if this is truly the look that these homeowners like then kudos to them for their choices. But if they got a little magazine happy and their styles tend to go with whatever is current, they will hate their choices in a few years and most likely be stuck. Stuck because the difference between changing the look of your home from 2019 to something more current isn’t as simple as changing from pegged jeans to jeans with holes everywhere. That might be a $50 change. In a house, it is thousands of dollars.

So my advice is to stay true to yourself. If you are a funky person (like my friend Mindy who lives out of state), don’t be afraid to go for a funky style. If you are someone who eats breathes and drinks all thing farming, make your home a farmhouse dream home that you have wished for for decades. If you are OCD like me and feel that symmetrical homes trump angles in construction, be symmetrical. My dream home would look like a southern plantation house. But if you are magazine happy and your style changes to what is current for the year, maybe you should go a little more classical or have a line item on your budget that allows you to make the changes that you will want to make as styles change in a few years (because they will change).

Either way, your home should feel like you and you should feel happy with it regardless of what styles change around you.  But above all else, your home should be filled with love. After all, at the end of the day, regardless of what your home looks like on the outside, it is the memories on the inside that matter the most. Have a great week!

Esta Ryder, Realtor

President’s Club
Ryder Realty, LLC
estaryder@gmail.com
330-317-6912