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PostPosted: Sun Nov 29, 2015 11:43 pm 
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Hi Everyone,

We are a first time home buyer and recently signed for a 30' Elmvale in Phase 4. Need your kind assistance to determine which upgrades & architect choices really adds value when you sell your house. Planning to live in this house around 5 years and so far we only decided to pay for "Rec. Room Ready Package (includes 3 pc rough in & 24 " & 30" enlarged deeper basement windows as per plan) " in architect`s choice option. Other than this what architect`s choice or upgrades in design center would you recommend to increase the value of the house?

* Does Cold Cellar really adds value to home? Mattamy is asking $31xx for our model. If we go for it, would we get his money back when we sell it?
* Any other architect`s choice options should we consider such as alternate kitchen lay out?
* Should we upgrade kitchen counter tops?
* Should we upgrade kitchen cabinets?
* Hardwood floor at ground floor is already included and planning to pay for hardwood floor on the 2nd floor as well. Trust this is important...
* Any other upgrades that you think is a must in terms of value add to home?

Thank you for your input in advance


Last edited by gs1905 on Mon Nov 30, 2015 12:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 30, 2015 8:53 am 
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Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2015 5:23 pm
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Upgrades that really add to the value of the house are:

Hardwood flooring
Kitchen with good quality cabinets and either Granite or Quartz countertops
5 piece washroom (with shower and soaker tub separate) aka Bath Oasis
Stainless steel appliances (built ins are more appreciated)
Gas fireplace

Bottomline: you should upgrade your kitchen, washroom and flooring.

However, you should do countertops, pot lights and backsplashes later as you can save thousands by not getting it from builder.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 30, 2015 10:19 am 
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It totally depends what your budget is and how long you plan to keep the house. Those are all nice upgrades but if you cheap out and get bottom of the barrel everything just to spread it over as many rooms as you can, people can tell and it's equally unimpressive as not upgrading at all (in which case you don't have to worry about the return on your money).
Also, kitchen colours go in and out of style within a few years so if you're not selling for a few years, keep that in mind. When we were selecting, Frendel told us the cappuccino/chocolate colour is almost out and none of the higher-end kitchens are using it, other than for an island.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 30, 2015 12:59 pm 
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Location: Milton
^^
I think both of these posts are good advice!

We bought a townhouse through Mattamy in 2013, with the intention of selling within 5 years (just bought a 30' detached in the last release).
We didn't have a lot of money to put towards upgrades as it was our first house, but did get 5K as an incentives. Not sure if it helps, but this is what we chose and how we rationalized it:
*Architectual:
- Chef's kitchen - approx $800 (couldn't afford to do the fireplace or alter the bathrooms, also wasn't sure if it was worth it in a townhome)
*Design Center:
- Upgraded white Kitchen cabinets (level 3) - we figured changing the counter top from laminate to quartz/granite after the fact would be way less work than changing cupboards. We wanted a white kitchen, and the basic cabinets had a bumpy texture to them and didn't look so great IMO, so we splurged on upgraded cabinets, and upgraded the handles as well.
- Stainless steel microwave hood fan ($700) - we have very limited counter space in our kitchen, so we are really glad we got this
- Upgraded stair pickets to the square shape (seemed more modern) and had them stained dark brown to match the flooring we chose
- Upgraded master and main bathroom with level 3 or 4 cupboards and added quartz countertops (we heard quartz through Mattamy was comparable to after the fact..but we couldn't afford to do the whole kitchen, so figured we'd finish off both the bathrooms for half the cost - our main bathroom is a fair size, but the vanity in our master bathis fairly small, i think the quartz only cost us $600 in there).

After closing..
- We want(ed) to add granite/quartz countertops and a backsplash in the kitchen, but haven't decided if it will increase the value.
- Added pendant lights over kitchen island (my husband is an electrician so it didn't cost us more than the cost of the lights)
- Painted whole hose in mostly neutral colours (may repaint the rooms we did in not neutral colours)

Our next home doesn't close until Jul 2017.. so haven't put a lot of thought into what upgrades we'll get. But probably will make similar choices. We haven't been called about our architects choices yet, but most likely will be going with the chef's kitchen and then fireplace. We only budgeted 10K for architectural upgrades, so the bath Oasis is not in a budget or else we would consider that as well. An for design center upgrades, we will likely stick as close to the 11K we got as incentive.

Looking forward to reading others' input, as we are looking to sell in the next 1-2 years!

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Lauren and Eric
Hawthorne South Village | Phase 6

Firm Closing Date: September 14, 2017


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 30, 2015 3:53 pm 
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Thank you all for your valuable comments.

* Gas fireplace: Understand that it increase the value of the house when you sell it. However, as it is only a 30' Elmvale, we will skip on this option because we loose windows in great room once you get gas fireplace. Definitely, prefer a great room with more sunlight and windows.

* Chef`s Kitchen & Alternate Kitchen Layout: As much as I understand these two are different things. In our case, if we upgrade to alternate kitchen layout then we loose kitchen cabinets which is originally located above the Dishwasher along with some on the left side of the sink. How important for you to have a patio door in your kitchen? Would it be a deal breaker for you if there is no patio door if you are to purchase a home?

* Bath Oassis: This one also makes your W.I.C much smaller. Would you sacrifice from your W.I.C space to have Bath Oasis? Again, would it be a deal breaker for you if there is no Bath but a bigger W.I.C?

* Cold Cellar: As nobody mentioned about it, looks like this is not an important upgrade to increase your house`s values?

Appreciate your kind feedback again for the above ones.

Understand that everyone`s opinion differs and it all depends on the size of your budged. Frankly, our budged is very limited for the upgrades so looks like we will only go for hardwood, kitchen and washroom countertop upgrades, kitchen cabinets upgrades.

Thank you again


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 30, 2015 4:08 pm 
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I would definitely take a bigger shower over a bigger closet (but I'm not sure how popular that opinion is). If you like to shower with your significant other, the bigger shower is much better.
I'm also not a fan of cold-cellars. They tend to stink after a few years so I doubt it's something that will add resale value, especially if you don't need it.
If you're already at the top of your budget, don't stretch yourself. You'll always be able to sell your home if you price it right.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 30, 2015 4:13 pm 
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I wouldn't get a cold cellar unless you're planning on using it. Don't get it in hopes that it will increase the value of your home down the road, because it probably won't (Fred D chime in here). You are going to get some buyers who will love that it has one and others that will see it as an utter waste of space.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 30, 2015 7:01 pm 
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I purchased the bath oasis, side door entry, rec room package, and gas fireplace for our home. I thought those were some of the important ones at the time I purchased. I was thinking about having the laundry moved to the basement as well to prevent and water related issues in the future but my wife didn't like that idea lol.

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 30, 2015 8:42 pm 
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funnyman82 wrote:
I purchased the bath oasis, side door entry, rec room package, and gas fireplace for our home. I thought those were some of the important ones at the time I purchased. I was thinking about having the laundry moved to the basement as well to prevent and water related issues in the future but my wife didn't like that idea lol.


I thought upstairs laundry was preferred since almost all the models have it? We love ours! We keep our laundry basket in the laundry room and only have a couple feet to walk from the bedroom to put the dirty clothes in there. Also loved that it comes finished. Don't like the idea of lugging multiple loads of laundry down to an unfinished basement.

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Hawthorne South Village | Phase 6

Firm Closing Date: September 14, 2017


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 30, 2015 9:57 pm 
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lalexa wrote:
funnyman82 wrote:
I purchased the bath oasis, side door entry, rec room package, and gas fireplace for our home. I thought those were some of the important ones at the time I purchased. I was thinking about having the laundry moved to the basement as well to prevent and water related issues in the future but my wife didn't like that idea lol.


I thought upstairs laundry was preferred since almost all the models have it? We love ours! We keep our laundry basket in the laundry room and only have a couple feet to walk from the bedroom to put the dirty clothes in there. Also loved that it comes finished. Don't like the idea of lugging multiple loads of laundry down to an unfinished basement.


I think people with younger kids that nap during the day might like the laundry in the basement.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 30, 2015 10:05 pm 
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I did opt for a quiet door for the laundry room to reduce some noise.

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 7:29 am 
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just wanted to chime in and give my 2 cents as I also have an elmvale in phase 17 (closed april 2015).
for architectural upgrades the only ones we went with were the bath oasis and basement bathroom rough in.
i would definitely recommend the bath oasis as the shower is huge and i'm ok with sacrificing a bit of closet space for the large shower.
we kind of went overboard with the upgrades and spent about $30k.

just to note a few things:
-we did not get a fire place or the sliding door. rather then spend money on the upgraded kitchen layout, we kept it standard and spent that money on upgrading the cabinets.
-personally i would recommend putting faux doors on the island as it makes a world of difference
-we opted for hardwood in the kitchen and at the entrance of the home, makes the house flow alot better as it's not a large layout to begin with.

ohh, one key note, for us at least is the fixture in the dining area, we shifted it 12" to the right as where they had it placed was not centred with where most would put their dining tables, just thought i'd mention that, something to make note of.


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PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 7:35 am 
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oh one other thing i thought i'd mention, again, personally opinion... but we changed all the closet doors from the sliding doors (in bedrooms) to regular opening doors.
was never a big fan of the sliding closet doors, looked cheap to me.


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PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 11:22 am 
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Location: Phase 3A
what was the cost of replacing each sliding door with regular door? May be $600 each?


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PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 2:00 pm 
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Carl wrote:
what was the cost of replacing each sliding door with regular door? May be $600 each?


i would have to dig up my upgrade forms, but i dont remember it being that much. if i remember correctly i believe it was $250-300 per door.


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