Garage Conversion Question. Help

[David S. Roberson]

I agree with Ross. Garage conversions are common here, and the market accepts them like any other GLA if completed in the same quality as the rest of the house. If not, deduct the cost to finish properly & include in GLA. Anyone else seeing an absence of Garages & Carports in new construction?

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

Not seeing that in my market....yet!!!!!

Ross....I have been able to find comps relatively easily for these...especially in the Security/Widefield area where those conversions usually occur. I concur, if it doesn't appear on the assessor's card make some sort of comment in your report to cover your Ahhhh, Ahhhhh, donkey!

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

Humorous thought.......Our new home is the only one on the cul-de-sac (8 homes) where the cars are in the garage! Our neighbors are jealous...can't understand where our "stuff" is. Actually I have two legal lateral file cabinets, two smaller regular file cabinets, a work bench, a rack with 16 fishing rods, and two more cabinets full of fishin "stuff" in there and we can still get our two cars in the garage!

 

[Ross (CO)]

Have been aware of many of these conversions in Pikes Peak Park and Southborough (?, on east side of Academy) and in most cases they went sideways when there was no basement to finish or previous base finish to re-model !

 

[Restrain]

Just a suggestion. A comment as to whether garage conversions "are common and typical" should be made. This can be confirmed by a quick drive through the general market, not just the block on which the subject is located. "A survey of homes in the area showed numerous conversions, blah, blah, blah." I find a lot of entry level homes have fully finished garages and are built so that the garage can be enclosed simply by replacing the door, and the builders sell the homes with this as a selling point.

As to the permit, I enclosed a garage on a rent house. The only permit I had to get was a framing permit for the garage replacement.

Roger

 

[jtrotta]

David
you say if you add in this GLA to the dwelling, that would make it one of the bigger homes in the area (Superadequacy :?: );

if most garages are unfinished - perhaps the same scenerio applies :?:

I strongly agree with Oregon Doug - RE: "I can git to the value needed" an absolutely / positively / anotomically / gastrointestonology / NO :!:
wrong answer - go to the corner and take yer dementor with you, thats not what it's about. :lol: :lol: :lol: , but not kidding :wink:

8)

 

[Frederick R. Ruffell]

David, here is how I word it.

"The subject property has a garage conversion/room addition. It is/is not known if this area was built with permits. This area can/cannot be accessed directly from the main living area. This area is/is not heated by the main system. This area is/is not reflected in the public record square foot figure and/or room count. This area will/will not be included in the GLA calculation."

If it is not included in the GLA calculation then I add the folowing... "This area will be considered in the cost and market approaches"

It WILL affect the value, you just need to figure out if it is positive or negative i.e. does the county enforce tear out or code compliance after the fact? if so how does the market react to this.

In my market, any potential increase in value gained from the increased GLA is offset by the decrease in value attributable to the loss of utility that a garage offers.

Hope this helps.

 

[Richard Carlsen]

Up here in the cold North Country (it is +2.1 degrees as I write this), if it meets the requirements for living space (heat and electrical and finished) it is counted in the GLA. Depending on the community, I would not make too much of it being converted other than to say it was at some point in time. Was a permit pulled and legal? I'm not in the building code enforcement business just like I'm not in the proper septic tank inspection business. Condition your report on the alterations being done to code and with the proper permits and let the homeowner prove that it was. If it wasn’t done to code and with permits, your report is conditioned on that fact and the value does not stand.

Stop doing other peoples work for them unless you are paid for it!