So glad to have your input. Thanks in advance for any comments you offer. Sorry for the long post but I'm trying to give detail that might help your feedback.
My basic question is, for residential homeowners, how do we "win" at this game? Is it possible to improve your way to a higher home value (short of additions), or is home value unaffected?
Background: Five years ago, we bought a 2-story home in a new construction neighborhood in urban St. Louis (approx. 170 homes total). Almost 1900 sq ft above grade and eventually another 500 below. 2 full baths, 2 half baths.
We were quite judicious with our upgrades, electing things like 9-foot ceilings and pour, hardwood for first floor, upgraded cabinetry, taller base molding, etc. In the years since, we added a 6' cedar privacy fence, finished 50% of the basement (to a very high standard), added a half-bath in the basement, replaced formica countertops with quartz, added a glass-tile backspash, replaced faucet with pull-down German model, replaced deeper kitchen sink, added 200 sq ft patio, replaced vinyl in 2 upstairs bathrooms with porcelain and ceramic, added custom closet organizer in master walk-in closet. We've enjoyed all of these improvements but (THANKS HGTV!) we hoped they'd add some value when it came to selling our home.
Fast forward to last week, when the appraisal on our home comes in $17,500 less than the agreed-upon sales price. In reviewing the appraisal, the items listed above garnered us adjustments of $4k for the finished basement, $1k for the patio, and $2k for the fence (NOTHING even for the second half bath?). In our neighborhood, it's common to have a patio and about half have hardwood floors, but NONE of the other improvements are common. We're the first home with a finished basement to sell at all. In fact, we're the first home that wasn't entirely builder-grade (full of vinyl, cheap carpet, formica, paint-grade cabinets) to sell. We've been inside most of the homes and have seen the MLS pictures. There were 7 comps, all in the immediate few blocks: 2 were 8 months old, 2 were still on the market. Two other sales were not included that could have helped to support the sales price.
Definitely, we've enjoyed the improvements we made. Very likely, they helped our home snag the buyers (their first offer was 2 days after we listed it). But really, they didn't add value? We might have been better off financially to leave it builder-grade?
I'm flummoxed by this. How can it be said that all of these improvements have no affect on value (as demonstrated by comps), when no house with these improvements has sold before? Maybe that's my real question -- sorry it took me so long to get there.
My basic question is, for residential homeowners, how do we "win" at this game? Is it possible to improve your way to a higher home value (short of additions), or is home value unaffected?
Background: Five years ago, we bought a 2-story home in a new construction neighborhood in urban St. Louis (approx. 170 homes total). Almost 1900 sq ft above grade and eventually another 500 below. 2 full baths, 2 half baths.
We were quite judicious with our upgrades, electing things like 9-foot ceilings and pour, hardwood for first floor, upgraded cabinetry, taller base molding, etc. In the years since, we added a 6' cedar privacy fence, finished 50% of the basement (to a very high standard), added a half-bath in the basement, replaced formica countertops with quartz, added a glass-tile backspash, replaced faucet with pull-down German model, replaced deeper kitchen sink, added 200 sq ft patio, replaced vinyl in 2 upstairs bathrooms with porcelain and ceramic, added custom closet organizer in master walk-in closet. We've enjoyed all of these improvements but (THANKS HGTV!) we hoped they'd add some value when it came to selling our home.
Fast forward to last week, when the appraisal on our home comes in $17,500 less than the agreed-upon sales price. In reviewing the appraisal, the items listed above garnered us adjustments of $4k for the finished basement, $1k for the patio, and $2k for the fence (NOTHING even for the second half bath?). In our neighborhood, it's common to have a patio and about half have hardwood floors, but NONE of the other improvements are common. We're the first home with a finished basement to sell at all. In fact, we're the first home that wasn't entirely builder-grade (full of vinyl, cheap carpet, formica, paint-grade cabinets) to sell. We've been inside most of the homes and have seen the MLS pictures. There were 7 comps, all in the immediate few blocks: 2 were 8 months old, 2 were still on the market. Two other sales were not included that could have helped to support the sales price.
Definitely, we've enjoyed the improvements we made. Very likely, they helped our home snag the buyers (their first offer was 2 days after we listed it). But really, they didn't add value? We might have been better off financially to leave it builder-grade?
I'm flummoxed by this. How can it be said that all of these improvements have no affect on value (as demonstrated by comps), when no house with these improvements has sold before? Maybe that's my real question -- sorry it took me so long to get there.
