I don't think there is too much difference between our opinions

my point was in general what you say is absolutely correct, but in california, the situation may not be the same. In CA, the housing prices are so high that lots of people are looking for real "deals" (because savings are limited :)), e.g. good location, good schools, decent lot size, etc., but normally ignore the "unimportant" factors, like kichen and bathroom remodelling (because buyers always think they can easily do it themselves -- you can change the kichen and bathroom but you can't change the neighbour and lot sizes, right?). I've seen so many houses that are decently remodeled, but either priced so high (because the remodeling has been priced in) or located in a so-so area. What I wanted to say was women normally care about the bathroom and kichen, but men look at other "important" factors that measure the house value, and men are usually the decision maker in a family. So, I remodel my kichen not mainly for the re-sale value. And my major concern was, if you model the kichen/bathroom too "personally" (like using red color, etc.), it may be hard to sell because not many people like red color in the kichen. So I'd rather remodel it with normal kichen color, like ivory and tan. Having house hunting for about 1 year, I think some normal rules (like what you point out) don't really work very well here...

all in all, thanks for the discussions... and i'll definitely remodel my kichen slowly (within my budget :D)

[此贴子已经被作者于2004-7-16 2:13:04编辑过]

actually before I bought the condo, I was dreaming of having a big/new/bright kichen and beautiful bathrooms as well... We saw lots of houses having beautiful kichen/bathrooms, but they are either priced too high (above 650K), or in bad neighborhood... So I need to sacrafice my dreams for nice kichen/bathrooms for good locations... (sigh, too little money) because I thought we could easily re-model them... this is the crazy housing market in north california... what else can i do? :p

exactly same here....
and guys always make decisions!!
you know what, this time he was already about to make an offer to the owner before I even saw the condo!!!