These days, it seems like almost every listing on the market has the word ‘luxury’ tossed somewhere into its feature sheet. However, when buyers encounter a home with genuine luxury details, they soon understand the true meaning of the word.
Owning a home with many of these coveted luxury details is absolutely something to work towards, but what if you don’t currently live in your ‘forever home’ or you plan on selling your current home in the near future? Is it really worth it to go to all the trouble of installing luxury features into your home if you don’t plan on enjoying them for the rest of your life?
The short answer is yes — if you have the means and the motivation, there are a few very opulent features that can actually add immense value to the overall worth of your home, meaning you’ll eventually make what you pay for them back when it comes time to sell.
To show you what we mean, we’ve compiled a list of a few of the most enjoyable luxury features you can add to your home now that are sure to see its value increase after installation.
Heated Bathroom Floors
Once you’ve enjoyed the luxury of stepping down onto heated floors in a bathroom, no other bathroom ever really feels quite as comfortable again. The reasoning is simple — bathrooms tend to be wet, humid places that (in cooler months especially) can become quite frigid.
Stepping out of a warm shower or bath into cold bathroom air can feel like torture for a good few seconds before you wrap yourself up warm and tight in a plush bath towel — but what of your feet? They’re left to stand bare, soaked, and cold on your bathroom floor or damp bath mat.
Now, seeing as one of the quickest ways to warm up your entire body is through warming your feet, it’s quite obvious why heated bathroom floors have become so highly sought-after. And, not only do they make a homeowner’s bathroom experience feel much more spa-like, heated floors also dry up the puddles and wet spots that inevitably collect on your bathroom floor.
Plus, we absolutely love seeing the look on potential buyers’ faces when they visit a home during an open house or private showing and step shoeless onto a heated bathroom floor. Their eyes light up with excitement and suddenly the entire property seems much more luxurious. This is definitely an instant value-adder and isn’t tremendously costly to install either.
Not too sure whether or not you should invest in home renovations before cashing in on your property? Find answers to your question by reading our related blog post, Should You Renovate Before You Sell?
Modern Appliances
Generally speaking, not everyone gets a rise out of shopping for domestic appliances. These days, however, modern kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room appliances are looking more and more like works of art, and as it relates to their internal engineering, they operate like works of art too.
That’s why luxury home buyers of today place modern appliances high up on their new home wishlists, and why investing in a brand new set of major household appliances can substantially increase the value of your home overall.
Not only do modern appliances look incredibly sleek and stylish, but new appliances also save homeowners money in the long run through increased energy efficiency. With the implementation of modern power-saving technology, appliances like dishwashers, washing machines, and dryers all require a fraction of the energy their predecessors did to do the exact same job — and in many cases, an even better one.
As a team of experienced Realtors® operating in Toronto’s high-end luxury market, we know exactly what luxury homebuyers are looking for. For some luxury home inspiration, find some of the city’s most sought-after home’s currently up for sale on our Featured Listings page here.
A Fully-Equipped Kitchen Island
As the saying goes, the kitchen is the heart of the home — and that sentiment is even more true when your kitchen has an enormous, fully-equipped island right in the middle of it.
If there’s one thing being stuck inside during months of COVID-induced lockdowns taught us, it’s that we naturally gravitate towards the kitchen. And because of that, we also quickly learned that almost all of us could use some more space in our kitchens too. The single best way to increase the amount of storage and counter space in your kitchen is to install or upgrade a kitchen island.
But what goes into a truly luxurious, fully-equipped kitchen island? Let’s start with a wide footprint — something that the entire family plus a few guests can crowd around during cocktail hour. Don’t forget to leave enough space for a few stools to fit underneath as well. At one end, either a sink and pot-filler or a stovetop with a functional statement range above it will substantially increase the allure (and value) of the kitchen island too. And definitely opt for a premium, hard-wearing countertop material — Carrara marble, if possible, is ideal.
There are homes and then there are luxury homes, and when it comes to selling the latter, the real estate handbook often gets turned on it’s head. Find out How Selling Luxury Homes Differs From Regular Listings here.
A Home Gym
Another side effect of the recent COVID-19 lockdown restrictions was peoples’ growing frustration in not being able to get a decent workout done at their favourite gyms. When gyms closed indefinitely across the country, those who could get a sweat on from within the comfort of their homes found themselves far less inconvenienced than those with limited exercise space and equipment at home.
While home gyms have long been a real estate status symbol, they’re now valued even more following those recent home-based lockdowns. For that reason, installing a home gym in an unused room of your home — or better yet, a garage, basement, or separate garden suite — adds tremendous appeal and value to your home as a whole.
And, it doesn’t take too much to install a home gym before listing your property for sale, either. There’s no need to go out and buy a full personal gym’s worth of equipment — instead, just lay out a few dumbbells, an exercise bench, and some yoga mats and it’ll appear quite obvious to buyers what that spare room is intended for.
Not exactly sure what a garden suite is? We believe they’re the next big thing in the luxury home ecosystem, which is why we put together our guide on Getting To Know Garden Suites here.
Outdoor Kitchens
Gone are the days when a standalone charcoal barbecue would suffice for a summer’s worth of cooking. Today, luxury home buyers are seeking out homes with entire kitchens set outdoors to sharpen their culinary skills with in warmer months. And we don’t blame them.
Canadian winters can be long and dreary, which is why we love to maximize our time outdoors during the warmest parts of the year. If your home is decked out with an outdoor kitchen featuring a built-in barbecue, sink, mini-fridge, storage space, and perhaps even a pizza oven, you’ll be sure to attract many buyers eager to entertain themselves and their friends and family for years to come in your backyard or outdoor space.
Are you thinking about listing your home for sale in the near future? Find out what it takes to sell your home via our thorough home selling guide below, then sign up for a professional home evaluation to receive an accurate estimate of your home’s current value in today’s market.
