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Titanium, especially custom Ti, definitely holds resale value better than carbon, unless the carbon bike is special in some way (e.g., Pinarello Dogma). Ti doesn't degrade with time or miles, and it can't have invisible cracks like carbon, so a good strategy is to buy a used but really nice Ti bike. They won't depreciate much.
Buy a beautiful used $3000 Seven Titanium and you can sell it three years later for $3000. Buy a beautiful new $3000 Specialized carbon and you can sell it three years later for $1200. Buy a used Specialized carbon for $1200 and you'll worry whether it will catastrophically fail from a hidden crack the next time you hit a pothole at 30mph.
Brands? Moots, Hampsten, Seven, Merlin, 333Fab...people have various opinions but once you get to a certain quality level these marques are simply different flavors of 10 on a 10 scale. Avoid cheap titanium because...well, life is short and so it should include the sweetness of a top quality ti frame.
I'm new here so I don't want to be too strong with an opinion so just take this as one guy's view.
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