The New Money Room
What is the money room, or the most valuable room to renovate for resale value? Every renovator and realtor will tell you it is either the kitchen or the bathroom, or is it? I believe that there is a new money room that will considerably help with the interest in the subject property, and in turn, help with the resale value.
Value is in the eye of the beholder. For example, if you are a car buff, a property with a detached shop brings much more value to you as a buyer. If you are an avid golfer, a home set on a golf course brings more value to you as the golfer-buyer versus a non-golfer-buyer. As a side note, these are examples of very specific end users and are not part of the larger pool of buyers in the market place.
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So, what is the new money room for the masses? If it is not the kitchen or bathroom, what is it? The new money room is the home office. A new study from the Angus Reid Institute covering all things over the last two years, including the cloud of COVID, gives us some amazing data on home offices, and more importantly, what Canadians want when it comes to working remotely or from home. The poll found that “workers from home [are] reluctant to return. More than half (56%) of those currently working from home say they would look for a new job if they were asked to return to the office, including almost one-quarter (23%) who say they would quit on the spot.”
This is a significant number of Canadians (56%) saying they want to continue working from home, and if forced back to work, they would look for a new job or quit. The poll also found that Canadians aged 54+ are more attached to their full-time home office life than the younger age group. Angus Reid’s research adds that “two-in-five (42%) prefer to work from home entirely, compared to three-in-ten (29%) 18- to 34-year-olds who say the same.” The poll continues to state that “younger Canadians are most likely to prefer a hybrid of working in the office and working from home.”
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As the graph below shows, household incomes indicated who worked from home and who wants to continue working from home. Households that accumulated an income of $100,000 or more seemed to be the tipping point of working from home. The number of Canadians working from a home office seemed to skyrocket when the household income was that of $200,000 or more.
I am currently moving into a new home; therefore, the new money room, or the home office, played a great deal into which home we decided to purchase. I fall into the category of the 69% of Canadians: (1) I am older than 54 years of age, and (2) I earn more than $200K per year. Over the last two years, I have been working more from my home office. I have come to find in these last two years that I am actually more productive and that I enjoy it a great deal; therefore, when looking for a new home, the office became an important room, equally as important to me as the kitchen and bathrooms. A home with a great office immediately goes to the top of my list, just like a home with a great kitchen goes to the top of my wife, Jolene’s, list.
What is the money room, or the most valuable room to renovate for resale value? If your home is a perfect home for higher income buyers that are in their 50s, a home office is a great selling feature, and will most likely help your home sell quicker and for more money. The home office is the new money room.
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Click Below To See The Fraser Valley Stats:
Fraser Valley STR Stats
Click Below To See The Vancouver Stats:
Vancouver STR Stats
STR (Sell Through Rate) Formula = Sales ÷ Active Listings + Failed Listings + Sales
Randy Dyck
Personal Real Estate Corporation
604-807-4366 or randy@eximus.com
Article Source: https://angusreid.org/covid-19-pandemic-work-from-home-return-to-work/
