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Old 02-20-2008, 07:31 PM
 
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I would do it if you can afford to... Seldom to people ever complain of having too much space and it would certainly cost much more later...

400 square feet over the garage sounds like a nice in-law, Au pair or care giver quarters...
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Old 10-09-2014, 02:48 PM
 
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does a person pay taxes on unfinished living space. We are buying a 4 bedroom home and having it built. We don't want to finish two of the bedrooms, until my elderly parents come to live with us in 5 -10 years. can we do this
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Old 10-09-2014, 07:16 PM
 
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How unfinished will they leave it? With unfinished, will they run duct work there for heat and air?

Will finished include flooring l ike carpet? Fitted closet? Will there be a door to separate it from the rest of the house?

It's probably a good idea to get it now. A thought...if you get it finished now you'd be financing it over the life of your loan it seems. In the future you'd finance it on credit, equity loan, whatever, right? Might be six of one...

Those rooms some call frogs (family room over garage), you should ask them to include a fan or at least electic in the center ceiling. A good wide fan that is seasonally reversible with remote control. It can get hot up there. In winter you'd like to push the heat down if it gets cold there.
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Old 10-09-2014, 11:01 PM
 
Location: Denver CO
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ssuming you can even get a certificate of occupancy and your loan to close on a home with unfinished living space within the main living area, which I am not even sure is the case. But I would finish anyway, even if just barebones in terms of the most basic flooring, etc. You may end up wanting to use the space in the meantime. Or life may hand you some unexpected twists and turns and you might need to sell even if you don't plan to right now. You'd have a much tougher time selling a house with 2 unfinished bedrooms. And it's going to be much more expensive to finish them later on plus you'd probably need to pull new permits, have additional inspections done then, etc.
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Old 10-10-2014, 08:11 AM
 
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Depending on your area and how "unfinished" I think you can get a COO. I have known many builders who do this and the room over the garage is just called an attic or something, even uninsulated attice...it is that unfinished.
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Old 10-10-2014, 11:04 AM
 
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We did this exact thing on the last home we built, and our budget was doing so well we went ahead and finished it with the initial construction. I'm so glad we did. We used the space constantly.

I do agree with the poster who said to add a half bath. While 2400 square feet isn't an enormous home, its size enough that buyers will be looking for that powder room.
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Old 10-11-2014, 12:37 AM
 
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Thank you so much for your advice
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Old 10-11-2014, 12:41 AM
 
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There will be no flooring , just 2x6's but a door will be blocking the attic space off. Our parents are living on an extremely fixed income. I don't want to pay taxes on that space until I have too. Yet we don't want them to feel a burdon. They have sacrificed so much. Do we have to pay taxes on this unfinished space.
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Old 10-11-2014, 07:37 AM
 
Location: Westwood, MA
5,037 posts, read 6,866,128 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rachaelryan45 View Post
There will be no flooring , just 2x6's but a door will be blocking the attic space off. Our parents are living on an extremely fixed income. I don't want to pay taxes on that space until I have too. Yet we don't want them to feel a burdon. They have sacrificed so much. Do we have to pay taxes on this unfinished space.
Depends a lot on your local municipality. The only people that can give you a meaningful answer sit in your city or town assessor's office. Why not give them a call?

And it might also be good to check with building department to check if leaving rooms unfinished is permissible. It might also be worthwhile to check how much more expensive finishing in a few years will be as compared to finishing all at the same time.
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Old 10-11-2014, 06:42 PM
 
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This is crazy. My responses and at least one other after rachaelryan's question were to the ORIGINAL POSTER, not rachaelryan. That's what happens when a post gets highjacked.

So...Mortgage guy, the original poster....my responses are to your question.
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