The Overlooked Design Decisions That Drive NOI With Marcy Sagel, Ep. 795

Marcy Sagel is the founder and principal of MSA Interiors, a commercial interior design firm specializing in multifamily housing, student housing, senior living, affordable housing, and other complex commercial projects. With over 30 years of industry experience, Marcy has built a reputation for creating innovative, functional spaces that align with her clients’ strategic and financial goals. She also co-founded Designer Bank, an online education platform that teaches design skills, space planning, software, and product knowledge to developers, investors, and aspiring designers.

Make sure to download our free guide, 7 Questions Every Passive Investor Should Ask, here.

Key Takeaways

• Audit your top ten competitors before making a single design decision

• Prioritize closet space, in-unit laundry, lighting, and cabinetry in unit renovations

• Full-size stackable washers and dryers outperform compact units in resident satisfaction

• Furniture layout planning, including TV placement and door positioning, directly affects rentability

• Looking high-end and being expensive are not the same thing

• Cheap materials that fail early cost more over time than durable materials installed once

• Differentiate from the competition rather than replicate it

Topics

What Residents Actually Want in a Unit

• Walk-in or large closets are now a baseline expectation, not a premium feature

• In-unit full-size stackable laundry is the preferred standard for most unit types

• Updated lighting, countertops, and kitchen cabinetry signal value to prospective residents

Common Design Mistakes in Multifamily

• Layouts are not evaluated for furniture placement before construction or renovation

• TV placement and couch space are often afterthought considerations

• Excessive interior doors fragment rooms and reduce usable wall space

• Simple layout adjustments, such as moving a door 12 inches, can unlock meaningfully higher rents

How to Stand Out Against the Competition

• List every competitor, their amenities, finishes, unit quality, and rents before setting a design direction

• Identify what the market is missing, then build toward that gap

• Boutique, differentiated spaces lease faster than properties that blend in

• Marcy cites a university-area project where a speakeasy-style hangout space and boutique design drove strong lease-up against large institutional competitors

Looking Premium Without Overspending

• A $1.50 tile can look high-end with the right design approach

• Affordable housing projects should look as good as the budget allows, not be deliberately toned down

• Cheap, low-durability materials often require costly mid-cycle replacements that eliminate any initial savings

• Work with established vendors who can offer warranties and guarantee product longevity

Designer Bank: Design Education for Developers

• Designer Bank is an online platform offering modules on Revit, rendering, space planning, lighting, flooring, and tile

• Modules are taught by industry practitioners with deep product knowledge

• Targeted at developers, investors, and anyone who wants to make better-informed design decisions

📢 Announcement: Learn about our Apartment Investing Mastermind here.

Round of Insights

Failure that set Marcy up for success: A 300-unit DC project where the flooring subcontractor installed real wood floors without taking proper moisture readings or leaving adequate expansion gaps. The floors buckled across the building. Multiple independent inspectors confirmed installer error, not product failure. The subcontractor had to replace the floors across all affected units. Marcy had flagged the gap issue in writing to the GC and client during installation, but the process was not stopped early enough.

Digital or mobile resource: A digital laser measurement tool. Marcy carries one on every job site to verify measurements before built-ins, furniture, or installations are confirmed.

Book recommendation: Profit First by Mike Michalowicz.

Daily habit: Pilates for physical and mental focus, paired with morning journaling to set intentions and map out priorities for the day.

Number one insight for great interior design: Designers work for you. Listen to their recommendations, but insist on multiple options and make the final call yourself. No designer should be dictating every decision.

Next Steps

• Learn more about MSA Interiors: https://msainteriors.com/

• Learn more about Designer Bank at https://designerbank.com/

• Follow Marcy Sagel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcysagel/

• Audit your top ten competitors before your next renovation or development decision

• Map furniture layout in every unit type to confirm TV placement, couch space, and door positioning

• Evaluate whether your current material selections prioritize upfront cost over durability and lifecycle cost

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