Sam Shueh
SamShuehRealtor at Gmail.com
San Jose, CA
I talked to several appraisers recently about some home improvement projects I saw. It is my understanding after talking to them any of these projects from existing homes may have an adverse influence on the saleability ranging from longer marketing time to a lower valuation of the your home.
These projects one need to evaluate carefully and able to convert back if needed. One should not go take on a project without a permit if it is required.
Garage Conversion into living space
Since the garage here is often of attched to the main structure sharing a roof and have walls, it is easy to put flooring on the concrete slab and make a living quarter out of it. When there is expansion of family one is opt to add a bath or even a kitchen out of it. That is fine as long as one lives in there. However, once the owners want to sell it, the conversion creates two problems. In San Jose, CA the city will process and approve a conversion and added the square footage to the house. If it is not permitted the plumbing, electrical work added are considered unpermitted and it can be redtagged. The appraisors will make a note of it and in some cases lenders do not wish to approve the loan. When people look at the added square footage and an extra bed or bath room, they will walk away as the added space is not original. They do not want to pay the same price as if it was original.
This conversion will remove valuable storage space for many homeowners. While the importance of a garage may vary by location, most buyers said that having a garage is important as people in the area often use the garage space for storage. There is no basement in California. Taking excess belonging to a locker storage seems to be counter-productive.
Silicon Valley was built for small families. Most existing single family homes were 3 br, 2 bath with relatively average size bedrooms 1400-1900 sf ish in size on an average lot of 5000-7000 sf mass built in the late 1960 though 1980s.
Thinking of getting rid of an exisiting bedroom to make master bed room bigger? Make your choice carefully. Removing a bedroom is one of those home-improvement blunders that can nick a home’s value— or other living space — in its place. The more bedrooms a home has, the higher the price it can command. If the home had three bedrooms and offer just two bedroom now will be tough to sell. Average American home comes with 3 bedrooms and 2 bath with a living area around 1,700 sf with a yard.
Listing prices are set by looking comparing homes are selling for in the same neighborhood, and the number of bedrooms is an important aspect of an appraisal. “When you start reducing bedrooms, you are comparing with smaller homes which comes with less number of bedrooms.
Big master bedrooms that resemble luxury estates was a popular home feature. One limits to a smaller number of prospects.
If you’re lucky enough to have a master bedroom on the first floor without having to deal with stairs, you’ll most likely want to keep it intact. Baby boomers, foreseeing a day when they can’t get up and down stairs as easily, will pay a premium for this feature.
All that said, the impact of removing a bedroom will differ depending on how many bedrooms you start out with. If you have a four bedroom home, you might have a bedroom to spare without too much of a financial impact. However, if one has several very small bedrooms may be it is OK to combine two as one, A lot of buyers typically want separate rooms for their children, and a guest room is always desirable.
Closet removals
Remove a closet out of the bedroom, this makes the bedroom more like a den or office. People will wonder where they hang their cloths meant for other member of the family.
Unpopular wall paint taste and wallpaper in modern homes
Yes, wallpaper can be removed, but it can be a difficult endeavor — especially if there’s a lot of it throughout the home. If if the buyer is a DIY like me I would not want to spend too much time removing it and repaint. I rather wish to purchase a home with minimum work in move in condition.
When one want to change the looks with home improvements, when need to consider if it will be acceptable by popular opinion. If one does converted in and permit issurance need to be factored in.
If you are in need of real estate service feel free to contact Sam Shueh (four-o-eight) 425-1601
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