When Home Improvements Are Not About Resale Value | Spokane Real Estate

We put a 20 x 30 foot playset in our backyard last summer. Our house is 1,035 square feet. The playset is enormous, it is almost certainly not helping our resale value, and it was one of the best decisions we have made since we bought this place.

We Chose to Stay and Then We Chose to Live Here

A while back I wrote about how we have one bathroom and chose to stay in our small house anyway because the neighborhood, the backyard, and the life we had built here outweighed the square footage we were missing. That post resonated with a lot of people and I think it is because most of us are carrying that tension quietly. Wanting more but loving what we already have.

What I did not say at the time was what came next. Because choosing to stay was only the first decision. The second one was harder and more important: we had to stop treating this house like a placeholder.

When you are in a home you might leave someday, there is a tendency to hold back. To not repaint because a future buyer might not like the color. To not invest in the yard because you might not be here to enjoy it. To not put in the enormous playset because it might not pencil out when you sell.

We stopped doing that.

The Playset

The base is 20 by 30 feet. In the backyard of a 1,035 square foot house. It takes up a significant portion of our outdoor space and the neighborhood kids have already claimed it as their own.

Did it add value to our home? Probably not in the way an appraiser would measure. Did it add value to our life? Without question.

Our kids are going to grow up on that playset. The neighbors are going to grow up on it too. We are going to have summers in that backyard that none of us will forget, and none of that shows up on a net sheet but all of it matters.

Not Every Home Decision Is a Financial Decision

This is something I think about a lot as a real estate agent because my job puts me in the middle of some of the biggest financial decisions people make. And there is a version of this work that treats every square foot and every improvement purely as an investment to be optimized.

I do not actually believe that is the whole picture.

Sometimes the right move is to stop waiting for the bigger house and start investing in the life you already have. A fresh coat of paint in a color you actually love. A garden you have been putting off. A playset that has no business being in a yard that size.

Those things matter. The life you are living right now matters. And a home that reflects the life you are actually living is worth more than one that has been held in careful reserve for a future buyer who may never come.

When It Actually Is Time to Move

None of this means you should never move. Some seasons genuinely call for more space and the tradeoffs are worth making. I help buyers and sellers across Spokane, Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, Deer Park, Chattaroy, Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, and the surrounding Inland Northwest figure out which situation they are actually in.

If you are starting to wonder whether it might be time, the first step is just coffee. I will pull your numbers, hand you a net sheet so you know exactly what you would walk away with after the sale, and connect you with a lender I trust so you have the full financial picture before you make any decisions. No pressure. No commitment. Just clarity.

Fill out my client questionnaire whenever you are ready: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYnNuFt-_i_oyF3-TkjVqIyEmIKfwJL3HOlHe1lZNjNlHJBA/viewform?usp=header

Or call or text 509-210-6581. Either way the coffee is on me and the playset will still be there when we get back.