We are always working to define what makes a home feel special. The math is simple. The more special a home feels, the more it’s worth. We spend hours, days, weeks, and often months articulating these things to developers, designers, engineers, and architects. If we build homes that feel good, people will buy them and pay a premium. If we don’t, and we simply check the boxes but miss the mark, a project will languish on the market until the price becomes the main reason people buy, and not the space.
I see the second scenario way too often - and it really pisses me off.
So, what are those elusive features? Identifying those is where the art lies, because no two situations are ever the same, and quite honestly, not too many people have the attention, talent, skill, or desire to take the time to figure it out.
And so we get left with “half-assedness”.
If you ask anyone who has created, built, and sold a project that sells for a premium, they will attest to this. If you asked anyone who has tried to sell a half-assed project, they would attest to it.
There are times when you can walk into an apartment that seems to check every box, only to feel it's inhospitable or slightly “off”. Sometimes, the reasons why it feels this way are obvious. The kitchen is too big for the living room, or the ceilings are too low. Maybe the shape of the corner window isn’t right, or the reflective ceiling plan looks like a map of the High Five Interchange in Dallas. (All things I’ve recently seen in projects).
Other times, it’s harder to put a finger on exactly “why” a place feels a certain way. It can take a few minutes to sit in the apartment, soak in the space, and get a feel for it. If you’re lucky, the flaw will reveal itself, and a creative agent and their client will figure out a way to address it and proceed.
Or they will decide it’s unfixable and move on.
Getting to the source of the problem is often the reason why agents have to show an apartment 5 or 6 times before the buyer makes a decision. Especially if the flaw isn’t obvious. When an apartment isn't riddled with flaws, it sells to the right buyer at the first showing.
Social media is filled with real estate design “fails”. Funny to see on Instagram, but not that funny when you’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars in a project, and your interest payment is eating your profits by the minute while your apartments languish on the market.
It’s critical to get it right first because it’s too costly to design and deliver it half-assedly!
Let’s do this!
Shaun