Added Value of Bedroom with Legal Egress Window

[Tim The Enchanter]

As someone who has done this modification to gain a bedroom for a teenager, it is no small undertaking to concrete saw out a vertical wall. Probably not a DIY project for a first timer.

Looks like a challenge even with a Sawzall.
Will it really saw all? Better get extra blades.

 

[DTB]

IF that basement BR w/ egress window returned 30K, you'd find plenty of them in the neighborhood.

Just sayin'

 

[Michigan CG]

Renovated houses without the egress are going in the low $200's in this area. Given the $7-8K the 4th bedroom with cost, what is an approximate value we should anticipate the 4th bed should add? I was thinking about $30K. Is this off base?

It is completely off base. I don't think you would get the $7-$8,000 back yet alone $30,000.

I grew up in Missouri (Kansas City area and then rural NE Missouri) and I have appraised residential properties in three states, Iowa, Illinois and Michigan. There is no way a basement bedroom adds $30,000 to the value unless you have a truly unique neighborhood.

There maybe owners who are already illegally using the basement as a 4th bedroom.

All across the country people use part of a basement as a bedroom. Who is to say it is illegal? Technically, a bedroom is defined as a room with two forms of egress with one being a sufficient window for egress. Zoning may not allow for a basement bedroom with no egress but just because it has a bed in it does not make it a bedroom. If I put a bed in the dining room is it now a bedroom? I just finished an appraisal today where they actually did that.

The two worst investments in homes are finished basements and in-ground pools. I have both. That pool in my back yard would cost $60,000 today ($45,000 before Covid) and my wife asked me to finish the basement a few years ago. When the basement finish was complete she asked me how much value did we add and I told her basically 1/3 of what we spent, if that.

Take that $7-$8,000 and throw it at the kitchen, not the basement.

 

[NachoPerito]

If everyone could net $22k for this then wouldn't all homes have 4 BRs?

 

[sputnam]

It's weird.... I seem to have lost my Official Book of Standard Adjustments.

 

[Tom D]

do what a builder would do, offer the basement bedroom for cost plus (profit?), as an upgrade (be sure to be very specific about specs) . this way you don't lose, and you might win.
if you can't sell, keep lowering the profit till it ain't profitable for yous to do it. profit is profit, no matter how small the amount. however, aggravation is a different issue on what amount of profit will make you do it.

 

[Mark K]

Even with an egress window. It is still a basement bedroom. Like living in a cave with a window.

My brother and I shared a basement BR for 10 years. Mom/Dad and sis had the two upstairs BRs, we had the cave. I think that, to this day, I have no allergies or reactions of any kind to mold/mildew since I lived in it for so long. Biggest problem was, every now and then after a big rain, we'd get out of bed and step into an inch or two of standing water. Talk about a wake up call!

To the OP, don't waste your time or $$. I don't see any way you'd get any significant return for a basement BR vs. a basement FR/Rec rm. or den in that size of house. Can't really speak for your area, but around here it would make no difference and our avg. sales price is about $200K. Some hot areas in Indy with older, small houses will bring more $$ for similar size house but even there, there's no discernable price difference between 3 v. 4 BR in a small house. Most people will use one of them for an office/den anyway.

 

[The Warrior Monk]

Ditto what Russ said.

This is market dependent. The setup will likely also matter. The market is not likely to get a warm and fuzzy feeling about a basement bedroom with low ceiling height and an egress window. On the other side of the coin, there are basement bedrooms that are finished similar to the above-grade area, and have walk-out egress, either at grade level, or out to a sunken courtyard.

Overall, though, it's been my experience that below-grade bedrooms tend to return less in the market relative to above-grade bedrooms. Receiving $30K for a $7K-$8K investment in a market where anybody else has the ability to do this yet nobody does seems very unreasonable.

 

[glenn walker]

Seems as I recall Patti & John Ramsey's daughter Jon-Benet's murderer came through a basement window. As a teenager we would have loved a basement with a window, and just imagine once mom & pop went to bed, out that window we would go and -another night of dirty deeds done dirt cheap- Attention all parents no windows in basements bad things happen underground : )

 

[Russ Kitzberger]

Receiving $30K for a $7K-$8K investment in a market where anybody else has the ability to do this yet nobody does seems very unreasonable.

This would be unusual in most of my markets too, it seems the OP cost is $7-8k, her husband is the contactor, so there is no or limited labor cost. In some markets, especially hot remodeling markets, labor and contractor profit are marked up 1x-2x materials. So a typical person might be paying $14-24k for the same basement finish with window.

I see the same with flippers and RE investors in SFR there is no GC involved and no GC markup in some areas, that GC profit and markup goes to the flipper or investor for their efforts.

Also this is a one bath above grade dwelling, lavatory below. Perhaps the most return is adding a shower for a full 2 bath dwelling. There may be a market need for that as well.