Author Topic: Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!  (Read 6825 times)

NoWorries

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Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!
« on: March 21, 2015, 07:32:50 PM »
We have a 3 BR house and one room downstairs is the office. I called a local building inspector and asked what the criteria are in our area for a bedroom. He said "2 egresses-one doorway and a window leading outside, a door that closes, and a closet or wardrobe".

BINGO!

I bought a lovely paneled bi-fold door for $39 and our handyman is installing it for $60. The room already has an Ikea wardrobe that we use to hold office supplies. The room has 2 windows. Tomorrow it will be a bedroom! That will make our house a 4 bedroom house now, for only $99 and in just one weekend!

Estimates on how much an additional bedroom increase home value range from 3-5% of the value of the home. We estimate our home to be worth around $280k, so from 8,400-14,000 increase. I'm so excited.

And homes in our area with more bedrooms sell SO much better. People have a lot of kids here!

Woo hoo!


Agamede

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Re: Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2015, 08:53:57 PM »
Not to be a buzz kill, but does one or more of the windows qualify as an egress window?

MikeBear

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Re: Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2015, 10:57:59 PM »
Yeah, if this is a basement bedroom it must have a special "egress" window. These are larger, and must be able to open up enough for people to use as an emergency escape route.

This is not simply a standard window that opens up for you to get some air...

innkeeper77

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Re: Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!
« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2015, 11:32:59 PM »
Actually, "egress" for basement windows is sometimes a misnomer. I know that in CO I have been told that a basement egress window not only has to be big enough for you to escape, but of a size that a wireman with all equipment could get through. We will be adding one to our basement bedroom, but this change will involve cutting the foundation.. not exactly a $100 job.

ShoulderThingThatGoesUp

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Re: Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!
« Reply #4 on: March 22, 2015, 03:33:35 AM »
We had a non-basement office that was technically a bedroom (closet, exterior window, door) but we listed it as not-a-bedroom anyways since it was a pretty crappy bedroom all considered (not on the same level as a full bathroom).

NoWorries

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Re: Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!
« Reply #5 on: March 22, 2015, 04:33:05 AM »
Not to be a buzz kill, but does one or more of the windows qualify as an egress window?

Please ask! It's not being a buzz kill. It's being thorough.

There are specific measurements that the windows must fit in order to be an egress. Our windows qualify! (25" wide) They are huge and practically any person could fit through them.

And the new bedroom isn't in the basement. Our house is a 2 story, and the new bedroom is on the first floor.
« Last Edit: March 22, 2015, 04:39:29 AM by NoWorries »

GizmoTX

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Re: Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!
« Reply #6 on: March 22, 2015, 05:12:55 AM »
Better check on the closet definition -- I don't think it can be just a piece of furniture.

NoWorries

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Re: Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!
« Reply #7 on: March 22, 2015, 05:25:26 AM »
Better check on the closet definition -- I don't think it can be just a piece of furniture.

I checked! The closet can, indeed, be a wardrobe. We have older homes in our area and some homes might not have closets in all rooms, but would still be considered bedrooms. The only caveat is that the seller must consider that wardrobe as part of the room and it goes with the house when it sells. No problem here! I'll include our $75 Ikea wardrobe!

paddedhat

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Re: Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!
« Reply #8 on: March 22, 2015, 05:50:43 AM »

This is one code definition of the required egress window in a bedroom.



EMERGENCY ESCAPE AND RESCUE REQUIRED SECTION: R 310.1 Basements and every sleeping room shall have at least one operable emergency and rescue opening. Such opening shall open directly into a public street, public alley, yard or court. Where basements contain one or more sleeping rooms, emergency egress and rescue openings shall be required in each sleeping room, but shall not be required in adjoining areas of the basement. Where emergency escape and rescue openings are provided, they shall have a sill height of not more than 44 inches (1,118mm) above the floor. Where a door opening having a threshold below the adjacent ground elevation serves as an emergency escape and rescue opening and is provided with a bulkhead enclosure, the bulkhead enclosure shall comply with SECTION R310.3. The net clear opening dimensions required by this section shall be obtained by the normal operation of the emergency escape and rescue opening from the inside. Emergency escape and rescue openings with a finished sill height below the adjacent ground elevation shall be provided with a window well, in accordance with SECTION R310.2.   ◦MINIMUM OPENING AREA: SECTION: R 310.1.1 All emergency escape and rescue openings shall have a minimum net clear opening of 5.7 square feet (0.530 m2). Exception: Grade floor openings shall have a minimum net clear opening of 5 square feet (0.465 m2).
◦MINIMUM OPENING HEIGHT: R 310.1.2 The minimum net clear opening height shall be 24 inches (610mm).
◦MINIMUM OPENING WIDTH: R 310.1.3 The minimum net clear opening width shall be 20 inches (508mm).
◦OPERATIONAL CONSTRAINTS: R 310.1.4 Emergency escape and rescue openings shall be operational from the inside of the room without the use of keys or tools or special knowledge.


Beyond, that the room would require a permanent source of heat, a smoke alarm, net amount of daylight (window glass area) as a percentage of room floor area, a minimum ceiling height, enough electrical outlets, a switch controlled ceiling light, or outlet for a lamp, and other requirements, depending on the local jurisdiction. Local authorities, and appraisers, could requirements a closet. It appears that the requirements for closets are based on outdated rules and myths. In my area, a room with a closet is counted as a bedroom, but there is no requirement for a bedroom to have a closet. This makes sense when used as a tool to design on site septic systems. The systems are sized by the number of bedroom in the house, which gives some idea of the occupant load the system needs to handle. As an example, a homeowner in my neighborhood took a portion of a walk out basement and converted it to a finished bedroom. He had all the legal requirements of a bedroom, but did the job without a permit. He got caught and was informed that he needed about $15K in expansion work done to his septic system to accommodate the additional bedroom, since he had created a five bedroom house. After a battle, he removed the closet and the room magically became an office.


NoWorries

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Re: Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!
« Reply #9 on: March 22, 2015, 08:06:53 AM »

 It appears that the requirements for closets are based on outdated rules and myths. In my area, a room with a closet is counted as a bedroom, but there is no requirement for a bedroom to have a closet.

In our area, a bedroom has to have either a closet or a wardrobe.

NoWorries

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Re: Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!
« Reply #10 on: March 22, 2015, 10:12:17 AM »
Update! Our handyman only charged us $40 to install the door, so the total to add a new bedroom is only $79!

clarkfan1979

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Re: Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!
« Reply #11 on: March 22, 2015, 01:47:43 PM »
Cool. I have similar plans this summer. I am going to build a closet in a basement room to create a 5th bedroom in my rental. It just has a little window. I will also get an estimate to get the bigger window so it's a legit 5th bedroom. The room is huge, (25 x 12). I'm going to build a walk-in closet on one end of the room, so it will be more like a 18 x 12 after the closet. It's going to probably cost me $300-$500. 

gaja

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Re: Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!
« Reply #12 on: March 22, 2015, 02:15:21 PM »
We added a room to our basement a couple of years ago. It cost a bit more than yours, since we had to cut in the foundation to get the windows in place. Also, we had to put up a wall, and do the finish on walls and floor. Everything except the sement cutting was DIY, and the total was somewhere in the range of $5-8000. Had a boarder there for a couple of years, making us break even.

waltworks

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Re: Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!
« Reply #13 on: March 22, 2015, 03:00:45 PM »
The value of your house did not change much. You can certainly advertise it as having another bedroom now but the actual increase in value won't even approach $10k, since a buyer would be able to make the same modifications to your original house with minimal effort.

-W

CommonCents

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Re: Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!
« Reply #14 on: March 22, 2015, 03:26:54 PM »
The value of your house did not change much. You can certainly advertise it as having another bedroom now but the actual increase in value won't even approach $10k, since a buyer would be able to make the same modifications to your original house with minimal effort.

-W

+1  Not be a downer, but at best it's a few thousand bump - but only for those unable to think of adding in an IKEA or other closet.  And realtors will happily point it out to those people.

Villanelle

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Re: Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!
« Reply #15 on: March 22, 2015, 03:41:42 PM »
Yeah, I'm sure you got some value out of it, and you'll be able to attract buyers who won't consider anything listed as a 4 bed.  But in truth, most people insistent upon 4 bedrooms aren't going to be thrilled with a crappy Ikea furniture and a folding door. 

There's value, but no way is your house now suddenly up par with a home that has a room with built in closet and a door that matches the rest of the doors in the home. 

It's great that you found a way to do this and I'm sure you got an excellent ROI, but don't overestimate the value.   

NoWorries

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Re: Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!
« Reply #16 on: March 22, 2015, 03:43:45 PM »
4 bedrooms instead of 3 GREATLY increases the audience of people who see a home that's for sale. Buyers who want 4 bedrooms will definitely see it, in addition to those who only want 3. However, if your house only has 3 bedrooms then an entire group of people, those who want 4 bedrooms, won't look at it. It won't show up on searches.

Even if it only increases the value by 2%, and gets us a larger audience of buyers, that's a significant return on $79!

waltworks

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Re: Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!
« Reply #17 on: March 22, 2015, 03:59:12 PM »
Meh, I've dealt with this sort of thing before. Most buyers looking for 4 beds will either 1) be aware that there's a "sewing room" or "office" here that might be convertible (assuming you do a competent job with the listing photos/description/vitals), or 2) be unimpressed with the folding door/wardrobe solution.

In any case, good luck selling the house!

-W

Roots&Wings

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Re: Spent $99 and increased the value of our home by $10,000!
« Reply #18 on: March 22, 2015, 04:01:13 PM »
Will your property taxes/assessed value go up?

My parents did this prior to selling, and many buyers (and realtors) thought the 4th bedroom was a bit of a joke ("um, it's not really a bedroom"). It didn't have an adjacent bath.

So the 4-bedroom buyers weren't pleased because they saw this room as an office or playroom that could be used as a spare bedroom if needed (but not a "real bedroom"), and they missed out on some of the 3-bedroom crowd who might have appreciated it as an extra bonus space.

If the room is located near a bath and has some privacy in relation to the public living areas, it could work out differently for you, but perhaps something to consider.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!