Any feature of a home/property may be viewed several ways.
As a buyer, the basic question is, "How is the value of this property affected by this particular feature?"
As an example, let's use a detached garage with a replacement value of $20,000.
Specific features of a property are usually viewed within the context of other properties that are considered equivalent. Known as the principal of substitution, this is what happens if you find two properties that both meet your requirements and satisfy your desires. If one of these properties has a detached garage and one does not, the question becomes, "What is the value - to you - of the garage?"
We'll assume that a detached garage was not one of your requirements - because if it was, you would not be seriously considering the property without the garage.
Although a detached garage was not on your wish list, you might consider it as having some value (or even a lucky find). In the end you might be prepared to pay more, perhaps $5-10,000 more for the property with the garage. OR... the opposite might be the case, you might look at the garage and decide that you would have to remove it and that that removal might cost $5,000 and actually make this property worth less [to you] than the property without a garage.
And, just to complicate things, there is also the possibility that any particular feature has neutral value to you.
Before we leave this example,
...there is another question worth asking yourself, "When we get ready to sell, how much would the value of the property be affected by this feature."
Does this feature contribute/add to the value of the property?
How much value??
This tends to be a harder question to answer because it attempts to predict not only the future but the behavior of buyers in what is a continuously changing market/industry. One way to view the affect of specific features on resale value is to ask yourself, "To what extent do my needs, desires, and my taste reflect that of other, potential buyers who are looking at similar properties."
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