During COVID, everyone became a DIYer. Now, poor choices are coming back to haunt homebuyers.

""An electrician told me we'd need scaffolding,""

""During COVID, everyone became a do-it-yourselfer," she said, "and those poor choices are now coming back to haunt homeowners - and their buyers.""

""I'm begging people to stop using a bold tile on a backsplash that doesn't match anything in the kitchen," she began. "Granite is making some environmentally aware buyers anxious. Primary suite baths with enough space for 60-inch vanities need a double sink ... it's a requirement for many buyers.""

""Now you've eliminated something functional, and you've got all these extra bureaus in the bedrooms.""

Buyers frequently face inherited design and renovation mistakes that complicate living costs and resale. Examples include oversized islands, mismatched flooring, wasteful double-height atriums, gaudy high fixtures, and outdated smart-home systems. Pandemic-era DIY conversions turned closets into offices and produced mismatched finishes, creating functional losses and extra furniture needs. Some features require specialized labor or scaffolding to replace, raising renovation costs. Environmental concerns and shifting buyer preferences affect material choices like granite. Emotional attachment and reluctance to acknowledge mistakes often leave homeowners living with impractical features rather than investing in corrective work.

Read at Boston.com