Now that you are a bona fide homeowner, or will be
soon, I'd like to ask you to step back and ask yourself why you bought the
house in first place; more specifically, why you chose a house in a subdivision.
You could have bought a plot of land and build your house there. You could be
living outside a subdivision free from those pesky restrictions and monthly
dues but you didn't. You chose to live in a gated community. Why?
Take a look at the photo above, it's one of the
pictures used to market a subdivision. Was it the prospect of being part of a
community that appealed to you? Was it the sleek design of the houses and the
cleanliness that got you? Or was it the beauty of having rows of houses all
uniformed, exactly the same size and shape? Did this quality make the
subdivision more captivating?
You might not have been aware of it but the
uniformity of the houses is not just for aesthetic purposes or appeal. The
sameness of each house actually increases the value of your property. This is
the reason why developers and property managers are strictly enforcing those
pesky restrictions and are making sure that you don't alter or modify the
facade of your house. Yes, it can be very bothersome and you may feel very
restricted. However, if you really think about it, won't the person who will
benefit from these restrictions be you, the property owner? Wouldn't you want
to make money out of your investment by doing nothing to your house?
Here's the logic behind this phenomenon. Imagine
that you haven't bought a house and that you are still scouting for one. You
come upon two subdivisions where about 80% of the houses are already built. In
the first subdivision, the houses are all uniformed and no one has deviated
from the original design. The colour, doors, windows, height of the houses is
all the same. Each one of them is the exact replica of the other and there is
no clutter at their front steps. There are no tarpaulins hanging outside their
window, no signs or advertisements. Then you visit the second subdivision and
your eyes see a wide variety of houses. There's a house which is three stories
high while the one beside it is just one floor. You see one coloured pink while
the one across it is violet and another is orange. There's one where the
laundry of the residents are hanged outside in front of the main door and
there's another with a billiards table out in front. Now agent A from the first
subdivision offers you Php XXX for a house and lot and agent B offers you the
same amount for a house and lot in the 2nd subdivision. Which would you choose?
Aren't you more likely to choose the first
subdivision than the second one? Wouldn't you feel more secured in the first
one? This is because the uniformity, harmony and regularity of the houses
create an atmosphere of safety, cleanliness and peacefulness, which are all
qualities a homebuyer is looking for. Weren't you looking for the same things
when you were house hunting? And doesn't basic Economics tell us that the more
demand there is, the higher the price goes?
Thus, the answer to the age old question of
"how to increase your property value" is to simply do nothing. Do not
change the facade of the house. Do not add a floor to your two-storey house.
Just keep the way things are. If you don't believe me, take it from the 5
brokers and 3 appraisers in my family. They all say the same thing.
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