A lesson in home improvements: enjoy them, but don't expect to recover their cost

The owners of 82 Cat Rock Road paid $3.3 million for it when it was new in 2018 and placed it back on the market earlier this year at $4.1. Today they dropped the price to $3.995. That’s unlikely to do the trick, assuming that “the trick” is to sell it.

According to its listing, the owners have put “more than $500,000 in improvements since purchase”, but so what? Looking over the list of what’s been done, the money was spent mostly on upgraded light fixtures, finishing closets, reconfiguring the driveway, and planting trees. I’m sure that’s all very nice, and a potential buyer will undoubtedly appreciate the effort, but he won’t pay for them — buyers expect these things. It’s like a new roof, or a new furnace, or replaced a/c condensers: expensive, yes, but to buyers, those are expenditures properly belonging to the owner and not to them.

Even conceding a return of the costs of these “improvements” — and the buyers won’t — how does $500,000 and $3.3 add up to $4.1 or even, as of today, $3.995? I see a $3.3 in this home’s future.

The improvement list is here. One thing you won’t see is a pool, even though there’s a town-approved site for one. I don’t like pools, personally, but if I were to spend $500,000 on improvements, I’d buy fewer trees or go cheap on the lampshades, and at least dip a toe in the water.