Making The House Appear Larger
I have a house right now that is in a very nice Neighborhood, but it is definatly a smaller and there for less expensive than the others around it.
My Idea is to Extend the Living room 3 feet and widen a walk through to make the middle floor look open and a little bigger. Also I plan on adding some built in book cases and things like that.
So my questions are, do you think that these additions will greatly add to the value???
The family room Extension will be about 30 sq ft. and will need a small roof addition and a gutter ............How much does that cost in your area???
Thanks for the HELP
Don't touch it. You will not recover your costs. When doing remodeling, you will invariably have suprises. None of them pleasant.
Show the property vacant. That will make the property look bigger . You can also add some wall to wall mirrors which will make a room look larger. Just don't overdo it.
I see why you say that, but my thought was this ......
Right now this house is worth about $435,000 there are houses in this neighborhood up to 600,000.
My idea was to actually make the house Larger by adding space in a room that will actually be used.
by actually making the house more comparable to some of the more expensive houses in the neighborhood I could tack on another 60,000 .... also i would be fixing up the house and making it prettier inside
Are you going to build outside the original foot print of the house?
yea thats the plan , but only on one level
I think there is a flaw to your logic.
Increasing the value of the house by $60,000 with 30 square feet defies all logic. That's $2000 a square foot!
If you built this tiny addition out of solid gold I would see how the possibility exists.
Seriously, get some professional help quick before you waste your time and money for a negligible return. Professional help = experience realtors who work the area, some contractors, get their opinions.
The only possiblility that I could ever see that much of a gain for such a small addition is if it was correcting a major flaw that was keeping the house from selling.
This would have to be a flaw that was so bad that it was driving the price of the house down by $60,000 and fixing it would simply make the house marketable again.
30 sq feet for $60,000 increased market value? Doesn't seem possible to me.
Keep in mind that you can spend $20,000 on a bathroom remodel and only net $5000 in actual appreciation to a house.
Thanks your sarcasm has helped me greatly.
Clearly you have overlooked what I wrote about fixing up the rest of the house and doing the regular touch up work ... such as paint .. carpet, tile in the kitchen ... also I mentioned widening the doorway ...
This house suffers from a Physical obsolescence... by curing this Obsolescence ( making the tiny family room large enough to enjoy) I will be adding to the value.... this house is by no means small, however the family room is. … So you got it right .. I do need to do this just to make it marketable at the price I want to receive.
I think the rehab's point is to always be CONSERVATIVE in how much value you are adding to property. Always better to have a windfall, then find out you lost money
don't touch the house!!! no way will a 3 foot addition make you any money. The very simple fact is you paid less for the house b/c it is smaller than others, and so will the next guy. Be happy with your $435,000 and move on.
I possibily disagree with the others here. I might do it. First of all, I'd get at least three estimates before doing anything. You can get all the opinions that you want here but that isn't going to give you the bottom line numbers. Get the estimates on the enlargement but forget about adding the built ins.
Built-ins don't go over that well and you will be wasting money on those. It actually inhibits furniture placement because you have to work around the built ins. I would maybe do some of the work myself to save some money. I'd do my own painting, decorating and possibly the trim work etc. Whatever you do be explicit to the contractor about what you want so you can get an accurate price. Extra space in living areas always increases value. Your biggest challenge will be to determine if it will increase the value enough to make it worth while to do it. My opinion is worth about as much as anyone elses. Again, get the estimates and go from there. [ Edited by Sandbahr on Date 12/18/2003 ]
Hey, you obviously don't get it. So I'll just be a bit blunter.
You would have to be nuts to put on a 30 square foot addition on a house.
I have built dog houses that are bigger than that. I just built a shed in my back yard that is small at 90 square feet.
I don't think you really have a grasp of what you would have to go through to do what you are thinking and the ridiculous cost involved. Just a few of the major issues you are going to be dealing with for a minor adjustment to the house:
-Foundation work for certain.
-Tearing out an exterior wall exposing the house to weather.
-Dealing with a bearing wall for certain.
-The electrical that is passing through that wall for certain.
-HVAC possibly.
-Plumbing possibly running through the wall.
-Matching the new exterior to the existing house.
-Matching the new ceiling to the existing ceiling.
-Matching the new interior walls to the existing walls.
-Matching the new flooring to the existing flooring.
All for 30 sq feet?????
Be ready a lot of head scratching and sideways looks from the first contractor you have come over, he is going to laugh his butt off when you show him what you are thinking of doing, or laugh all the way to the bank.
There is a concept in building called economy of scale, what you are thinking about doing is as far in the opposite direction as you could possibly get.
Unfortunately I think you are probably going to learn this lesson the hard way.
Let us know how it comes out.
PS: I was thinking of tearing off my 3000 square foot roof and reshingling it because there is one torn shingle in the back. I figure with a new brand new roof I will add $50k to the value of my house.
Seriously - how bad can that room be effecting the resale - it didn't stop you from buying the house, or anyone else before you, did it?
Geez, how stupid of me. It just dawned on me, If you really want the end all answer to if you should do this, just call a willing appaiser and talk to him. He will give you a super quick education about square footage and what ends up going in the + - columns on his appraisal sheets. Banks will be giving a loan on the appraisal amount, and I can gurantee you that the appraser will not take into effect "How mucn open feeling your house has" in the bottom line opinion he will put on it.[ Edited by The-Rehabinator on Date 12/18/2003 ]
furcron,
If you can widen the walk through without messing a load bearing wall, THAT might offer a small return on your investment, but I honestly do not believe that you should play with the exterior wall addition. The gain you will realize just from that addition will not offset the cost by enough to make it worthwhile.
You mentioned fixing up the rest of the house. I think that will do much more for you than the small addition to the family room.
-rup
Don't do it, it is NOT worth the cost, headaches, etc. IF I were going to expand the house I would look at several other options, perhaps adding on an outbuilding, or perhaps an entire room addition, which will cost you more but MIGHT bring you a return. The mods you describe just don't make financial sense.
Thanks alot for the help. I will take everything you've said into consideration.
I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, but the people who owned my grandparents house before they did used to set small fires in their bathrooms and get the insurance company to pay for remodels.
Around here, old houses with small family rooms go for $50-$90K, so it wouldn't make much sense to add 30 feet. However, it seems to me that in an area where the avg price is $600K, then it would be much easier to add $60K to the value of the home. That is only a 10% increase or so. I'm not an appraiser and I don't know all the factors that go into the value of an expensive home, but I do know that it's a lot easier to add 10% to the value than to add 100% to the value of a home. You may or may not make all your money back - but you would be more likely to make your money back in that neighborhood than I would be to make my money back if I did the same kind of addition in my neighborhood.
You sound determined to do it. How about a third option. Add a glassed sunroom with french doors off the family room--the visual space will increase and there will be a cozy extra spot. I still don't think you'll get your money back but the headaches of construction will be less and so will the potential hit we think you're in for.
I agree with the sunroom, you would probably pay about the same amount to add a sunroom as adding your 30 sq ft onto the house. Plus the effect it will have on buyers emotionally will go alot further than 30 sq ft. They will see the house and start imagining the sunny mornings in the sun room sipping their coffee. With the extension to the family room they may look at it and ask why the room is bumped out from the house. Or forget the extra space and upgrade the kitchen cabinets and counters. Bottom line go after buyers emotional side. Ask yourself if you were a buyer what attracts you to one house over another. Their may be another problem here. Depending on the neighborhood the size of the house or the look of the house as compared to the other houses may turn buyers off. If you have a house that just doesn't fit people will sometimes shy away from the house because they don't want to feel like the poor people on the nieghborhood or just dont want to live in the smallest house. In this case I would be more worried about the curb appeal, the types of improvements inside and possibly an addition but onl if the numbers would really work. If by adding an addition you can only make an additional 20K in potential profits and by simply renovating the inside you can make 40-50K then I would forget the addition, quickly renovate it and sell it. Additions can be a nightmare and can take alot of time to complete.
TBARBER
If you have some pics of this house you are referring to,,,and If you would like to email them to me , I would be more than happy to give you my 2 cents as to a lower cost cosmetic approach as apposed to a costly structural undertaking... more pics and views the better...
I will do that dave ... it will probably take me a couple of days to get you the pictures ... but your help will be greatly appreciated.