How much should I pay for a basement in Colorado Springs?
Almost all houses in Colorado Springs have at least some basement area. For a breakout of the different types of basements and some things you need to know about basements and crawl spaces, check out my post:
http://activerain.com/blogsview/4800754/colorado-springs-buyers-guideline-7
The value of a basement is dependent on several factors:
# 1 Is it a walkout, garden level, window well or crawl space?
# 2 How big is the basement? Is it a “full” basement, where the square footage of the basement is about the same as the floor above it, or is it a partial basement? A full basement may be worth less than a partial basement if the full basement has some space that isn’t highly useable while the partial basement is very well laid out.
See my post on “floor plans matter” where I deal with marginal space:
http://activerain.com/blogsview/4800712/colorado-springs-buyers-guideline-6
# 3 How is the basement laid out? Some are long rooms of limited utility. Others are all bedrooms. Do you need that many bedrooms?
# 4 Does the basement have one or more bathrooms and if so, how “good” are the bathrooms? Some basement bathrooms are spacious and well laid out. Others are tiny and cramped with a marginally useable shower.
# 5 Does the basement have its own heating system?
# 6 Is there a door between the basement and upper floors.
Numbers 5 and 6 impact how well you will be able to regulate the temperature in the basement. Without its own furnace or without a door, warm air will travel up and cool air down. Depending on a number of factors, the difference in temperature between a main floor and basement can be 10 degrees or more making it uncomfortable to spend time in the basement.
# 7 Does the basement have a fireplace that produces heat?
# 8 Was the basement professionally built out, built out with “do it yourself quality” or is it unfinished?
# 9 How livable is the basement? This is impacted by all of the above factors.
# 10 One last criteria that usually doesn’t have a direct effect on livability is whether or not any build out was permitted by Pikes Peak Regional Building.
I have been in basements that were well designed, light and cheerful with a warm wood burning fire place that put out heat and I have been in cold, dark dungeons.
So let’s circle back around to my original question, how much should I pay for a basement in Colorado Springs?
Each situation will be unique but here are some helpful guidelines:
# 1 Most people have little use for an unfinished basement. For most people it becomes very expensive storage space. The monthly payment on a self-storage unit is a lot cheaper than paying for a large unfinished basement.
# 2 The 90 day factor. People vastly over estimate how much they will use a basement. They think they will use a pool table, ping pong table, etc. but 90 days later they are hardly using the space, if at all.
# 3 The standards for basement finish have been raised substantially. In “the old days” when a basement was typically used as an indoor children’s play area, often nicknamed a “Romper room” (after the long-running children's TV show that ran in the US from 1953 to 1994) an acceptable basement finish might have been indoor / outdoor carpet and concrete block or other unfinished walls.
Today, many basements feature top of the line finishes. I see elaborate “man caves,” music studios, and guest bedrooms that rival or exceed nice hotels.
# 5 Too often, houses with unfinished basements, especially if it is large, are overpriced. Here is a very rough guide line to basement pricing per square foot:
A well laid out basement that is professionally finished, permitted, and is equivalent to upper floor space, may bring nearly the same price per square foot as upper floor space, roughly $85 to $100 per square foot.
A lesser basement, especially one with “do it yourself finish” may be worth $60 to $80 per square foot.
An unfinished basement, depending on its potential (does it have plumbing stub outs for bathrooms, how many windows are there for potential bedrooms, etc.) may only be worth $40 to $60 per square foot.
Kitchens and master suites are always primary rooms to determine a houses value. In Colorado, garages (see my post)
http://activerain.com/blogsview/4792802/buyers-check-the-garage-first-
and basements also need careful evaluation.
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