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I live in Chappaqua, Westchester County, New York. About 45 minutes north of NYC. Commuter town.
We bought a lovely old Victorian on 4 acres last summer. We love the place.
We love our yard, we use our pool, but we don't really know what to do with our old clay tennis court. At the moment, it is an unused eyesore, right next to the house.
We plan to live here for a loooong time, but, if we will do extensive work to the house/yard, are certainly considering resale value, too.
Some professionals, ie, real estate agents and our general contractor, have told us to get our tennis court redone as a "sports court" as that "excites the market". But, Man, those suckers cost between $50 - 75,000 to install, with maintenance fees.
A gentleman who came by to chop down some hazardous trees is the only person who has told us that he would like to see a lovely garden there, that you can't even tell we have a pool as it is just stuck in the back, behind the old tennis court. Something to connect the house and the pool - a path, some flowers: tranquility.
And logically, investing $75,000 in a "sports court" when it's not what you want, and there's no guarantee it would give you a higher resale value? That sounds like a really iffy idea.
Besides, it's a Victorian - and people who love Victorians enough to buy them, also tend to appreciate beautiful gardens.
Boucethelight is dead on. What "excites the market" today will be antiquated and unwanted in ten or twenty years, just like the tennis court you have now that, no doubt, excited the market when it was built.
Gardens never go out of style, unless they are not taken care of.
And logically, investing $75,000 in a "sports court" when it's not what you want, and there's no guarantee it would give you a higher resale value? That sounds like a really iffy idea.
Besides, it's a Victorian - and people who love Victorians enough to buy them, also tend to appreciate beautiful gardens.
I second this. Aren't people tired of living according to what future potential buyers might like? This isn't a flip it's your home and it sounds lovely. Put in the garden it that's what you want and enjoy it.
Thanks, everybody for being such great voices of reason.
We were expats for a really long time - except for a brief (re 18 months) jaunt back in the States 10 years ago, this is our first home. Not really a starter home, and it is a steep ol' learning curve, but we are enjoying the process. It is sometimes hard to figure out the "right" course for remodeling. And, of course, you often get different opinions from builders, interior decorators, real estate agents. etc.
I will try and post a picture when I can figure out how!
Chappaqua......most people moving into this fairly high end community are going to prefer tennis courts over a garden.
I would personally prefer a garden, and don't give a hoot about tennis.
The REAL question is what YOU prefer? YOU answered your own question. "We are going to stay here for a LONG time." For a long time, what do you prefer? Thats the answer to your question. And quite frankly, in Chappaqua, if you get your entire investment back when/if you sell, is $75,000 going to mean anything relative to the price of four acres and a house in this delightful community?
I say you cover it with granite and then store stainless steel appliances on top. make sure you put in two sinks as well. Let me think if I missed anything, nope, that seems to be the HGTV checklist du jour
If I were being serious, I would jump on the BounceTheLight bandwagon. If you are going to be there a while, don't worry about what excites the market. Particularly if you are going to be paying maintenance costs for something you are not using.
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