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Old 11-26-2014, 12:51 PM
 
Location: Needham, MA
8,530 posts, read 13,933,392 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Austin023 View Post
Thanks Mike, Yes I do still keep in touch with my buyers' agent from when I bought this house.
I invited her, and she has obliged, to come by time to time and see my work progress on the house, room by room (mainly redecorating/updating). I had not gone into any detail with her about the attic plans so I certainly will ask her thoughts on it.

Out of curiosity though, how would something like this be viewed by agents and buyers in the Boston/Needham area? (I grew up close to Needham).
Additional finished space is always viewed as a plus whether it's in the attic or in the basement. As for how much value that's going to add . . . well that's more of a local issue.

Out of curiosity, what town did you grow up in?
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Old 11-26-2014, 01:21 PM
 
Location: Living on the Coast in Oxnard CA
16,289 posts, read 32,237,526 times
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I wish we had useable attic space out here. About all we can use it for is a crawl space at best. besides that most of it is roof trusses blocking any kind of access. You need to meader along when you are going into the attic and make sure you stand on a stud. LOL

Someone mentioned size of the home. Is it normal to only have a 700 square foot 1st floor? Our home is only one story and it is just under 1,700 square feet. One neighbor years ago put a second story addition on to their home making it a 3,200 square foot, 8 bedroom, 4 bath home.
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Old 11-26-2014, 01:33 PM
 
Location: Mount Monadnock, NH
752 posts, read 1,483,404 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MikePRU View Post
Additional finished space is always viewed as a plus whether it's in the attic or in the basement. As for how much value that's going to add . . . well that's more of a local issue.

Out of curiosity, what town did you grow up in?
Mike, I grew up in north Walpole from the later 80s until 2005 (I spent the first 7-8 years of my life in Boston itself); I have close family in Norwood, Westwood, Dedham and Medfield as well so I am quite familiar with the area.
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Old 11-26-2014, 01:42 PM
 
Location: Mount Monadnock, NH
752 posts, read 1,483,404 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE View Post
I wish we had useable attic space out here. About all we can use it for is a crawl space at best. besides that most of it is roof trusses blocking any kind of access. You need to meader along when you are going into the attic and make sure you stand on a stud. LOL

Someone mentioned size of the home. Is it normal to only have a 700 square foot 1st floor? Our home is only one story and it is just under 1,700 square feet. One neighbor years ago put a second story addition on to their home making it a 3,200 square foot, 8 bedroom, 4 bath home.
Well, the house I am talking about here is in western Massachusetts--the kinds of houses here can be very different than out west or down south. In my area specifically, most of the housing stock is pre-World War II (and a good amount is Victorian, pre-1900), not to mention a fair amount of early 19th and later 18th century colonial homes still standing as well....so the manner they are constructed in is pretty different than say a 1960s era expended ranch.
Where I live we typically have two and two and a half story homes with full basements and often full, walk up attics.

The kind of attic you're describing is not as common up here, though you find it on some ranch and contemporary-style houses, but the expanded ranch seems to be more of a western, southern design than what you'd find here in New England.
How old is your house? Are the rafters standard 2x4s? Or are they 2x6s, 2x8, if you know...typically in newer homes of one-level in warmer climates they make the roofs out of 2x4s and maybe 2x6s and reinforce it with trusses.
As for newer houses in my area, as far as I have noticed, two-story houses have full attics and many have floorboards or plywood covering the joists and insulation, though not all have stair access. Even for new homes, two-story ones are more commonly built than one or one and half story ones.

I lived in a house in Charleston, SC for some time and it was built on a slab--it had an "attic", but it was so full of trusses that it was virtually of no use for more than light storage (like a a few boxes of Christmas and Halloween decorations, old papers, etc.)...it was essentially just a space which contained the trusses for the roof structure and a few components for the HVAC system.
However, since this was in an area that was prone to hurricanes, building codes required that houses have reinforced roof structures, so pretty much any house there built within the last 80 years or so had an attic full of trusses for reinforcement. Storage space, other than the garage, was an issue and I really like having a full basement again, though I do miss the layout sometimes of that expanded one and half floor living space sometimes...

Last edited by Austin023; 11-26-2014 at 02:00 PM..
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Old 11-26-2014, 02:00 PM
 
Location: Living on the Coast in Oxnard CA
16,289 posts, read 32,237,526 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Austin023 View Post
Well, the house I am talking about here is in western Massachusetts--the kinds of houses here can be very different than out west or down south. In my area specifically, most of the housing stock is pre-World War II (and a good amount is Victorian, pre-1900), not to mention a fair amount of early 19th and later 18th century colonial homes still standing as well....so the manner they are constructed in is pretty different than say a 1960s era expended ranch.
Where I live we typically have two and two and a half story homes with full basements and often full, walk up attics..the kind of attic you're describing is not as common up here, though you find it on some small ranch and contemporary-style houses...but the expanded ranch is more a western, southern design than what you'd find here in southern New England; the way they are built can be pretty different too.

I lived in a house in Charleston, SC for some time and it was built on a slab--it had an "attic", but it was so full of trusses that it was virtually of no use for more than light storage (like a a few boxes of Christmas and Halloween decorations, old papers, etc.)...it was essentially just a space which contained the trusses for the roof structure and a few components for the HVAC system.
However, since this was in an area that was prone to hurricanes, building codes required that houses have reinforced roof structures, so pretty much any house there built within the last 80 years or so had an attic full of trusses for reinforcement. Storage space, other than the garage, was an issue and I really like having a full basement again, though I do miss the layout sometimes of that expanded one and half floor living space sometimes...
I would love a basement as well. All the homes built after the late 1950's around here are concrete slab construction. When I was a kid we were always told that it was because we are so close to the ocean and the salt water intrusion would fill the basement. Which is funny because the hospital I work in was built in 1962 and it has a full basement. We don't have any frost ever and I have heard that areas of the nation like yours need to dig below the frost line, meaning that they have allready cleared an area for a basement.

Homes built earlier than the mid 50's around here are on a raised foundation with a crawl space under them. That would be nice as I want to replace all my drain lines. LOL. With a slab I need to either cut up the slab and replace or reroute outside of the house.

We do have some homes that have a "second story" that is really an attic but was built as a second story. We have talked about turning our home into our dream home by adding a second story and a finished attic, making it more or less a 3 story home, which is as high as you can build a residential home in our area. That is all talk though. Not sure we would really want to go thru that process.
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Old 11-26-2014, 05:06 PM
 
334 posts, read 1,099,173 times
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OP, your plans remind me of this 1920s house that sold this summer:
http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...6_M43261-18261
They had 5 offers after the open house. It has 3 bedrooms on the 2nd flr (small MBR facing the front and 2 tiny back BRs) and a huge finished attic BR. It's in an area of Long Island NY that has lots of early 1900s housing stock. It looked like the attic upgrade added to the market value; it was originally a full storage attic with pull-down steps and I think the back bedrooms had been made smaller to fit the stairway up to the attic. I was surprised that the house sold so fast considering that it had only 1 bathroom.
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Old 11-28-2014, 11:21 AM
 
4,676 posts, read 9,950,396 times
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It depends.

Are you on septic? How many br's is rated for?

Do you have a dry basement for storage?

What's the headroom on the third floor?

We're primarily septic in my area You can't necessarily count on the existing attic "br" being in the br count for the current septic system if that's what you have.
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Old 11-28-2014, 11:30 AM
 
Location: Philaburbia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 399083453 View Post
I always tell people to remodel for yourself, not the next person.
A hundred times over.
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Old 11-28-2014, 01:05 PM
 
28,455 posts, read 85,071,081 times
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There is some good general advice (like rely on experienced local real estate professionals) and even some specifics (like climate / attic). That said the OP has some questions that a) strike me as potentially very costly b) may not be the wisest use of "upgrade" funds.

From a "return on expenditure" basis there is little argument that SIMPLE updates make the most sense -- tackling really outdated bathroom(s) or kitchen with a "refresh" that includes moderately priced cabinetry / countertops to replace worn-out / unsanitary existing items can be quite effective.

Another smart renovation is to increase the kind of living space that modern shoppers appreciate -- sometimes that means bedrooms(in homes with less than four) other times that means "family living area" in homes that have no place for gathering, finally the latest trend is a functional area for "working from home" and / or keeping things like household bill paying / Internet access well organized.

The OP seems to be looking at this as more "infrastructure" work which while it might make sense to a technically minded person is NOT a high return on any shopper's list -- out of 100 potential home buyers I doubt 10 would care if you upgraded electric wiring, even fewer would care about AV wiring, and only a wee bit more would care about re-insulation...

The funny thing too is that when it comes to long term ownership the fact is a super-insulation attic can be cost effective, something like 70% of your heating AND cooling load are impacted by the quality of attic insulation...

Personally, the degree to which this sort of renovation makes sense is largely driven by factors of what sort or use the OP has in mind AND the sort of potential utility that it might present to future buyers. While it might seem like a good idea to expand a small house into the attic I know from experience that if the home is already very compact there is a limited pool of buyers that would consider it -- things that are "bonus" areas in larger homes just do not have the same kind of return in homes that are "too small" by modern standards. Buyers in even relatively modest price points increasingly expect things like a master bath and some kind of entertaining space that bridges the cooking / eating / TV watching areas -- instead of calling this a "great room" the term "open floor plan" is more common. Of course there are folks that will adamantly disagree that such layouts suit their tastes, but honestly having sold even older homes, built at the height of the Craftsmen influence, I can say that the vast majority of buyers do like space that does not overly compartmentalize either daily life or entertaining.

It is hard to imagine how space on an upper level really would appeal to most modern buyers. As others have said, even with a modern split system for AC and heat (which are increasingly efficient and relatively easy to install for this kind of use) the seasonal extremes might make this less than ideal.

Of course if the OP really does want a "home theater" kind of living space there is nothing that anyone either on this forum or even a local real estate pro can dissuade him from his quest for a "man cave"...

Finally, though I have seen some really nice upper level renovations that do "work", especially in resort areas, I would caution that some folks that feel like they've "outgrown" the space in their home really should consider moving to a bigger home...
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Old 11-28-2014, 05:45 PM
 
687 posts, read 911,370 times
Reputation: 2243
While I wouldn't suggest replacing old wiring if you're trying to sell (the vast majority is quite safe, even early 1900's era 'knob and tube') but you can do wonders by replacing your faded/ugly/scratched switches & outlets along with their plate covers.

If you're going to paint you might as well do this anyway. I'm in the market for homes and there's nothing tackier than freshly painted walls with old crusty outlets and faded covers. I mean, WHY? Maybe it's the electrician in me that notices this type of thing first (along with the light fixtures, smoke alarms, the panel, your fans, etc) but I mean it HAS to stand out for even non-electricians right?

Then of course I'm going to replace these anyway if they're ugly, so win for me, but most people would find this to be a VERY cheap fix that returns a lot of visual appeal (even if it not directly noticed your rooms will appear fresh).
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