One key reason is the freedom to choose

I was catching up with friends who bought their first home last year. They have to replace the flooring since a hot water heater broke and flooded, damaging the current floor. This was an insurable upgrade. They were not selling, but I was asked what is the best choice for flooring? Their question about what to choose for flooring got me thinking.
5 years ago we all looked at residential real estate appreciation in terms of 12 month periods. 20 years ago it was assumed appreciation would take years. I think we should return to that mindset of "20 years ago". This is a benefit to the 'situation' the country is in regarding residential r.e.. I told them to choose what they wanted. Do anything that you desired. Don't worry about the best choice for someone else or the others outside of the front door. Being able to choose what we want inside our home without a landlord/management company input is a major piece to the American Dream. A remaining question could still be, "what if my choice hurts me selling the home later?". My answer to this one would be how quickly would you be selling? and then I would return to the encouragement of enjoying a home and the freedom to choose that comes with ownership.
In order to protect the money spent on an upgrade like flooring in this case simply keep the house for a long period of time. When you are ready to move don't sell but lease it out, turn the home into an investment. The initial down payment was for owner occupancy which was achieved by living in the property a long period of time/many years. Let appreciation have years to develop while you live in the house. Tweak the house to your interests because you can. Stay in the house for the long term. Go ahead and wait to stage the house for the public when you sell the property many years from the purchase.