Finished room above detached garage

[Woodworker]

I am appraising an older farm house that has a newly built detached garage with a finished room on the second level. It has electric and heat but no water supply. Owner is using it as a bonus/family room for large gatherings. I don't think that I should count this as living area since it is detached from the house and should give the garage extra credit in the grid for the room above it. Am I correct in doing this?

 

[Brad Ellis]

Wood-

Yes if the FROG adds value and you have some market data to suport that- but it is defintely NOT part of the formal GLA.

Brad

 

[Lee Lansford]

...I don't think that I should...give the garage extra credit in the grid for the room above it. Am I correct in doing this?

My question to you is this: What is the market's reaction to the area above the garage?

Appraisers don't "giveth" or "taketh"...only the market can do that.

 

[Marcia Langley]

Ditto Brad. It's definitely not GLA, rather an extra amenity. You could add it to the garage line, like you said, or make a separate line for it. One way or another may make the adjustments more clear, depending on your comparables.

If you have comparables with extra amenities attached to the garage, that line may be better. If your comps have amenities that are not attached to the garage, a separate line may be better.

 

[LordofTexas]

Bonus Room

Less the 5' height restrictions on all four sides (others use 6'), that would be a 100 Sq.Ft. of bonus space on a 400 Sq. Ft. garage. That is the size of most typical office "rooms" in homes. I'd say it has good (albeit seperate from living area) value if it is finished and wired. Only a bath would make it guest quarters, in my opinion.

 

[Financially Feasible]

I am appraising an older farm house that has a newly built detached garage with a finished room on the second level. It has electric and heat but no water supply. Owner is using it as a bonus/family room for large gatherings. I don't think that I should count this as living area since it is detached from the house and should give the garage extra credit in the grid for the room above it. Am I correct in doing this?

Woodworker - where in PA is this property located? I just did an appraisal of a house with a 2-car, detached garage with finished living area above (have seperate electric and baseboard heat - no water supply) in SE PA. Actually, I only had one comp with and four with detached garages but I backed up my market adjustment (derived from the one and only sale that I had in the market) with a depreciated cost of the living area above. Both came out close enough to each other to be credible. Where my subject was at, lots of people have larger garages and a fairly good portion have some sort of FROG space. However, they just don't hit the market that often. I did a 5-township-wide search for more comps and there just weren't any... and I determined that going any farther out made the report less and less credible as they were different market areas.

The other members of the Forum gave you sound advice - do not count in GLA.

 

[Woodworker]

Thanks!

Thanks for the help. I thought that I was doing this correctly but its always nice to be able to check with others beforehand.

Ed, the property is in Franklin County, PA which is southcentral PA. If you know of any sales in the area with a FROG I sure could use it because I haven't been able to find any so far!

 

[Financially Feasible]

Thanks for the help. I thought that I was doing this correctly but its always nice to be able to check with others beforehand.

Ed, the property is in Franklin County, PA which is southcentral PA. If you know of any sales in the area with a FROG I sure could use it because I haven't been able to find any so far!

Franklin County is 4 counties to the west of where I was in Chester County. So, I doubt that any of my info would be of any help to you. Plus, Trend/MLS does not have Franklin county in its database. I'll try MRIS later when I get back but their PA database is sketchy at best.

If you can't find any sales, then you might be dealing with functional obsolescence through a superadequacy. However, during your inspection of the area, did you notice ANY houses with a FROG? If it's typical for the area to have this feature but none of sold then you might rely solely on a depreciated cost approach to come up with your adjustment. You will have to write that up IN DETAIL on your report.

 

[Marcia Langley]

Wood,

Once you have exhausted your search for a FROG (you can analyze older sales, too) you can also look for properties that have similar amenities. A detached shop or studio of similar utility and quality might be comparable.

This is what I meant when I suggested making a separate line for the amenity.

 

[Woodworker]

Thanks again

Ed, I thought that you may be further west than I am located - judging by your coverage area. I appreciate your help and will keep looking for other sales with a FROG.