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My wife and I just signed the contract on a new construction last Sunday that should be finished within the next 5 months. The house is 2017 sq ft (3 bedroom, study, 2 bath) and has the option of adding an "unfinished bonus room" for $11,000. With the room the house will cost around $218,000.
Here is my question - My wife and I will be the only people living in the home. We do not need the extra space but figured if we add the room and have it finished a year or two from now it will help the resale value of the home. How much does a room like this matter? We can afford it, but it's cutting it close. With the room finished the house will be around 2400 sq ft. Is it worth the cost for resale purposes? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
I'd see what the other homes in the area have for square footage and compare. $11,000 is not a terrible amount of money in the grand scheme of things. Check comps in your area just to get an idea. Remember though we are still in a shakey housing market so stats today vary a great deal.
I have a bonus room and I love it. If you want to sell your home, the buyers might want to make it a space for the kids or an office area. I didn't think that it would be so great having it. Make sure you put cable and phone outlets in their to sell it faster.
Bonus rooms are a big deal out here in Oregon. People want theater rooms, play rooms, game rooms etc. You just need to make sure that what you are building is consistent with the rest of the neighborhood. If there are only 1600 square foot homes, then no don't build it, but if most are around the same square footage, frame it in and finish it later.
A few other things you might want to think of is the increase in your annual real estate tax because of the extra 400 sq. ft. $11,000 is not much until you look at what extras it's costing, such as an additional $66 per month on your mortgage if you're financing & your increased taxes. Like the previous poster mentioned as well, what are the other homes like. It's true, you don't want to have the most expensive home in the neighborhood if you ever plan on selling. If you plan on living out your days in this house, that's another thing.
You might want to consider finishing it now rather than later - if it fits in with the neighborhood. It will cost you 2 to 3 times what it would cost now to finish it, not to mention the construction dust and people in your home while you're living in it.
It looks like the $11,000 is for the unfinished room. I would caution anyone to make sure that you can access this room through a hallway and not one of the three bedrooms or have to go out to the garage and up stairs - I have seen these houses and buyers hate that.
that with a bonus room and 2400 square feet you will need another bath to make this house fit current expectations, especially if the bonus room is on another floor, either up or down from the main floor. It sounds like you are building a ranch, since you will only have 2 baths and not 2.5 or 3 baths. That third one would be extremely beneficial. If your space is going to be unfinished, will it have a rough in for a bath? That is MUCH easier to do while in initial construction. If you are handy you may be able to finish it yourself, though. It will be nice storage in the meantime.
The room is an unfinished room which is on a second story above the garage. The stairs to the room are in the hallway to the 2nd and 3rd bedrooms. We have until Tuesday to decide and it's driving me crazy! The avg. house in the neighborhood is around 2300 sq ft. so i'm afraid if we don't do it then our house will be too small in comparison.
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Another consideration is..
