The unique house dilemma…

There are always people who have the desire for something unique, whether it be a piece of art or custom made jewelry or rare and expensive cars. Some desire to have a unique home; so, they have a home custom designed and built for them. That’s great until it comes time to sell that home. Finding another person with the same taste and desires can be a real challenge for the Realtor.
There are many unique niches in the homebuilding world. Ultra-modern designs, often angular and perhaps flat roofed are fairly rare in Michigan, but lots of very expensive examples exist. Log homes and timber-frames homes are another niche that is popular in Michigan, because of that warm, “Up North” feel. Post and beam houses (of which timber-framed houses are a sub-category) is also a popular niche category and actually not all that rare. Earth houses (those home that seem to be buried on 2-3 sides and may even have an earth “roof” are fairly rare in this area, but not unheard of. A relatively new category is the green, super-efficient houses that may use solar or geothermal heating and be super insulated.

As great as all of these homes may be, they present quite a challenge to the real estate world. Just trying to come up with a price is the first challenge, since there are rarely many “comps” available to compare them too and usually very few that have sold recently. Most of these homes are more expensive to build that the run of the mill colonial or ranch style home, so the owners have more in them and expect to get more out of them upon sale. The build premiums can be anywhere from 20-50% more than a normal stick built home, and that doesn’t take into account any upscale interior features, which many have.

I’ve had this challenge a few times, with post and beam and timber-framed houses. I tried to do the research to determine the build cost premium and then tried to gauge the market’s willingness to pay that premium. That’s the rub. There are just so many great houses on the market today – most of them of traditional style – at really great prices, that it is hard to recommend much of a premium for the unique style. In fact the uniqueness itself is such a limiting factor on the potential buyer pool that it may act to detract from the market value; especially as today’s buyers factor in how hard it might be to sell later.

Still, these are for the most part wonderful homes. Many provide interior layouts that can’t be duplicated in “normal” homes and are often great entertaining homes. They certainly provide the modern equivalent of the “character” that so many love in the old Victorian homes; character that you just don’t get in a tract home. Often these custom-built homes are also in unique settings, since they are not normally to be found in the midst of subdivisions; and those settings are themselves often spectacular with views for which the house was designed to highlight.

So, how much is that worth? In general, for the same square footage of living space it might be 20-30% more to own a truly unique niche home; maybe more for a spectacular timber-framed house or for a home designed by a famous architect. After all, you haven’t really “arrived” if all you have is the biggest house in the latest upscale subdivision. It’s only when you have a house that no one else has that you can truly savor what you’ve accomplished. At least that my story as a Realtor and I’m stickin’ to it.