Finished Garages

[Trebor]

In my Marshall & Swift book there is added value for finished garages.

 

[Timothy Wixted]

Originally posted by Robert Lockwood@Sep 10 2004, 07:38 PM
In my Marshall & Swift book there is added value for finished garages.

Robert- I think you meant to say cost not value.

 

[Trebor]

That's one of the 3 approaches to value, I think.

 

[Timothy Wixted]

Robert- I don't think anyone would disagree that the Marshall & Swift COST Handbook indicates that a finished garage COSTS more. Whether it adds VALUE to the improvement is another question. The point is that cost and value are not interchangeable terms.

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

As usual, the answer is....it depends. If, in your market, most garages are finished (insulation, drywall, textured, and painted) and yours isn't...would a buyer probably pay a little less? IN MY MARKET finished garages are nice but hard to put a value figure on. I tend to lump it in with such things as security systems, extra wiring, ceiling fans, upgraded appliances, etc.

From a personal stand point, I like the way they look and when we purchased our new home we had the garage interior finished and painted to match the interior of the house. Amazing how many comments we get on how nice the garage looks. Cost was about $1,000 more. As an added benefit, the extra wall insulation makes the garage warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

 

[Mountain Man]

Ditto's to the Old Man.... it depends.
In my area, the lower range home use T-111 as an interior finish. The shade tree mechanics don't care about having sheet rock in their work space..... it's just something to patch up as they knock in holes from tossing tools around. But in the upper price range homes, it'll sit on the market until someone buys it at a discount, finishes the interior, and re-sells it for a profit.

 

[DTB]

MLegett,

Just stumbled on this old post. Are your kidding, I hope? Upper end house, finish garage and sell for a profit.

Upper end meaning what? 600K+? Your closing costs, not to mention any sales or carrying costs would probably run you around 4% in and out. That's 24 K+, combined with the cost to finish a large 3-4 car garage. You're out 26-30 K. I can't imagine an unfinished garage knocking down the value 30K in the 600K price bracket. Add 5% sales costs and that garage fix up cost you 60K.

You can BUILD that garage for less.