Garage or Family Room.......(home value question)

[OnionPatch]

Of course I know that now is not exactly the time to get top dollar from your home sale, but we do plan to sell sometime in the next five to ten years when we (semi-)retire. So, pretend for a minute that the housing market isn't an issue and help me and Mr. Onion with a home value question:

Our house was the dumpiest home in a very nice neighborhood when we bought it. We got a good price for it and have brought it up to the level of the neighborhood with sweat equity. All except for the square footage. Although this is a desirable neighborhood, most of the homes in this area are older, so there are not many McMansion type homes with 3000+ sq. feet or anything. Most homes in the neighborhood are around 2000 sq. ft. Our house has about 1500 sq. feet. We also have an attached two-car garage that has finished walls and ceilings. If we wanted to add flooring and a wall to replace the garage door opening, we could pretty easily add another 450 square feet to the home.

We thought if we did this, we could add an open car port and tool shed to replace the garage. This is southern California, so a garage is not as desirable a feature here as in some other areas. Many people have carports and seem fine with them. So, the question is, which option is better for the value of the home? 1950 sq. feet with carport, or 1500 sq. ft. with enclosed garage? The carport/shed and new wall will cost us around 10k to build. (Sweat equity factored in.) Will the additional square footage make this investment worth it? (Again, let's leave out the housing market as a factor for now. We'll deal with that when the time comes.)

Thanks for your opinions.

[NMDemDist2]

1. more living space

that would be my guess....

but make sure it's done well and doesn't look like a conversion

my first home had a bad conversion done and we ended up turning it back into a garage LOL

[OnionPatch]

3. Sorry yours didn't work out.

What went wrong? :shrug: (If I may ask.)

[NMDemDist2]

6. well, they put in a curb in front of the conversion

the only problem is that is wasn't angled correctly and water drained INTO to garage instead of away. they didn't put in a false floor either so it was moldy and dank

it was a nightmare breaking out the curb, but we're glad we did!

[OnionPatch]

8. We'll have to be careful of that.

The driveway slants down toward the house, so drainage will be an issue. We'll definitely have to deal with drainage.

[NMDemDist2]

9. well fore warned is fore armed eh?

we want PICS of course if you decide to do it

[OnionPatch]

10. I'll try.

I have yet to post my kitchen remodel pics from the job we started a year ago! I had posted here about painting cabinets, etc. and promised pics way back then. :blush: We're actually finishing the last of that job today! I'll try to post some pics of the kitchen soon, but at the rate we move, you'll probably see garage remodel pics in about 2010-2015. ;)

[Dora]

2. If you can do it well, then do it.

We sold our house last year because it was too small for us. That house had a two car carport that we had considered framing in and remodeling, but we decided against it because it would have meant pushing the cars to the front of the driveway as the lot was too small to put them anywhere else. There was simply no way to do the job without it looking shabby.

Ironically, the house we ultimately bought does have a garage remodel, but the prev owners did a smart job of it by rerouting the driveway around the side of the house to a detached garage in the back. We LOVE the space the garage remodel added to the house - the original structure was a 3/2 at 1300 sf - cozy! The garage addition added a large living space with a fireplace, bar (lol, we don't drink), and a walk-in coat closet. The only structural change we made was to widen the doorway connecting the living space (former garage) to the kitchen/dining area, in order to create longer sightlines in the house. We also put down new flooring - the garage had one kind of carpet, the hall had another kind of carpet, and the kitchen/dining had vinyl. We put down tavern-grade pecan throughout, and it now looks consistent with the rest of the house. When we bought it, it was nice, but it was cavernous and felt isolated from the rest of the house.

[OnionPatch]

4. Plenty of space for the remodel.

We're on an acre of land. There is plenty of space for a carport to the side or front of the house. It wouldn't be awkward at all.

[Dora]

5. Excellent! A suggestion....

If you're pouring slab for the new carport, and if it's in your budget, then I recommend you rough-in plumbing for toilet, shower, sink. That way, you have space for a guest house or studio apartment down the road, or even just a second shower for those days when working your acre gets you too muddy to get inside the house without making a mess. Our garage has the plumbing, if not the fixtures, and someday I know we'll use them.

[OnionPatch]

7. The existing garage already has a bathroom.

So the new family room will have that bathroom. (There is a total of three bathrooms in the house...plenty, I think.) The garage bathroom could use a little spiffing up, some new flooring and fixtures, but otherwise, it's good to go! The new family room will make perfect guest quarters.

[OnionPatch]

11. So everyone seems to think it's a good idea.

The question is, how good? It would be a lot of work because we'd probably do some of it ourselves. So we'd want to get as good an idea as possible of the sort of returns we might expect on this investment of our labor and $$. How does one do that? Real Estate people? Appraisals? :shrug:

[NMDemDist2]

12. call a local appraiser n/t

[OnionPatch]

13. I would, but

I am wondering if we have the house appraised, and the value has risen, will this make our property taxes go up?

[Warpy]

14. NO! County assessors come around every once in a blue moon

and make sure the houses haven't sprouted additional floors but mostly base their assessments on what houses in your area are selling for per square foot.

A real estate person who comes around to tell you what you could get for your house is only telling you how much paper equity you have in it so that you'll have something to show the bank when you get that home improvement loan.

[OnionPatch]

17. That's good to know.

This is our first home, so we aren't as experienced with all of the points of home-ownership as we could be. We've improved the place a lot, but no additional floors or anything.

I know a real estate person I could probably get an opinion from.

[NMDemDist2]

15. no, the state uses their own appraisal process

and don't get the house appraised, just see if an appraiser will give you some info on what such a project will do to the value of your home.

you taxes may go up when you pull the building permits

you will pull building permits won't you? cuz if you don't then you may definitely run into problems with value.....

[OnionPatch]

16. We'll definitely do it the right way.

Permits, etc. We just don't want to do something that's going to cost us extra.

[eleny]

18. We remodeled a one car garage into living space

That was decades ago and we don't regret it. Our home was a two bedroom and the new space could easily become a master bedroom. Hubby uses it as a giant office space where this year we'll be putting some new bookcases in to corral many books and "stuff".

We had enough room to build a garage next to the house. We had that done last summer.

Since we don't want to move, we decided that we would make the place what we wanted. Our contractor was reasonable since he needed the work. For what it's worth, it all worked out for us.

I hope you can work out that drainage issue. That would worry me most of all. Across the street from us, the houses all have driveways that slant towards the homes and garages get flooded. It's an older neighborhood with homes built after WW2 when the rules were lax compared to today. I'm sure you can engineer something.

[OnionPatch]

19. Even though we do plan to move

we would really enjoy the extra space while we're here. We already use it for a sort of hobby room now but it will be so much nicer as a real room with heat and AC. We'll just have to hire a professional for the drainage issue.

[Whoa_Nelly]

20. Before you do anything, check with your city municipal and county regs

Some areas either need a special permit or are not allowed at all to do a garage conversion.

If you do the conversion, make sure you have all the necessary permits, and that construction, electrical, HVAC, and more are inspected, as that is usually what's required to complete the permit. Everything needs to be up to current building codes.

You also may have to have architectural approval depending on your town, city or county. Architecture includes all the structural, electrical, flooring and HVAC blueprints, as well as a couple of others that may or may not be required.

Plan with and/or hire a licensed contractor to make sure you have all things covered: Placement of ductwork, electrical outlets and switches, installation of flooring, perhaps sub-flooring as well, and more, should get the once over from someone who knows what it's all about, and can give you a better estimation of total costs. Fire safety factors and code are also important to know and follow.

You may also want to discuss with a contractor the possible costs for deconstruction of the room to return it to being a garage space in the future if that is something that you may want to do should you decide to sell in the future, dependent upon the housing market.
There are specific requirements per code that have to be met if you do this in order to make sure that the garage space mets the hazards and fire codes.
(Hazards include CO fumes not being able to enter the house proper. Fire includes a 20 minute firewall delay between the interior house structure and the garage space)

But, if you do this project correctly from the beginning, from permits to using licensed contractors, (especially the electrical and HVAC), and with the size of your parcel, you may want to simply add a detached garage or carport with a breezeway to the house, thus satisfying the someday future buyer.

Also, consider having a mold check re: the concrete and walls in the garage before you renvate.

And, if your water heater or furnace is currently in the garage, you may, per code, have to have these moved and inspected after the change.

If your laundry is currently in the garage, consider adding a closet with bi-fold doors and extra soundproofing to the closet walls to make the space more attractive.

Just some thoughts.... :hi:


on edit:
re: home value
Your home would be valued by sq. ft., but you may lose out on not having garage space, thus having to go under whatever the current market is in your neighborhood at the time of selling.

However, things that DO add value to any remodel are tile or wood flooring, (laminate can add value, but wood adds much more to the overall space and future pricing), interior wood trim, windows with views, granite (if you add any counter tops, such as a bar), keeping it airy and spacious in the overall view, storage, including undercounter, shelving, perhaps a discreet closet, and directed canned ceiling lighting for art/wall displays, (there are so many options for permanent lighting, and a lot of fun to check out if you decide to add this feature to your space.)


PS Remember that whatever amount you do spend on the conversion, that amount won't be the actual amount of added monetary value to your home (Example: You spend $50k to do the conversion may equal more or less than $10k in added value.)