It’s possible the discount stems more from the houses that get this type of addition.
1 it costs money to convert back.
2 it’s possible that it is reflective of the type of upgrades that are in the house. Less attractive/professional looking.
Some garage conversions don’t address the step down from the subfloor level to the garage level. It comes off as hodge podge.
I think it really depends on what/where you are starting from. Take my 3/1 tiny home with decent lot. Converting the garage into a master bedroom and bathroom takes it into a higher 4/2 category. I would just do a car port in front to keep costs down. So, I probably shouldn’t have to spend more than $50-$60K in my estimate for the whole job. Are you telling me that if I sell the 4/2 now that I won’t recoupe that construction cost easily and net out more than a 3/1 would? Of course I will. The buyers will simply see a 4/2 home, not what it was before.
It depends on how you are building out your 4/2. Most garage conversions are done without permit to keep costs low (owners would not be doing a garage conversion to begin with if cost wasn’t a concern). So the sq ft will not count officially, and buyers can see through your cheapness anyways knowing that you probably used very cheap materials for the conversion to cut costs. So they will definitely not pay any premium for your house.
Come on, on something like this of course permitted. Same thing with Sunset inlawing. Fully permitted for max value and price…
Please show me one house in the Sunset being sold for a premium without a garage.
Uh, we are not talking about the Sunset Sir… the OP asked about his home in Fremont. Let’s not again deviate too much from the scenario presented…
Now, I just went into Redfin to try to find a Fremont house layout that fits what I am talking about and I admit a lot of of the Fremont garages are protruding out from the rest of the house already. My house in Fremont, the garage is set back so that the rest of the home is out towards the street. So, converting a garage in that sense is easily doable with a car port in front. I will accept my 20 lashes like a man…
Here’s another thing to consider. With electric cars being big in the future, you will have nowhere to charge it.
You make a great point about electric cars, @sheriff.
I personally saw this home during open house. It’s a garage conversion with a step down and a car port. It got sold for higher than what it would have sold for without the conversion.
In terms of car port, I was thinking along the lines of something more sturdy and nice like this one down my block. Yes, more expensive and totally blends in ok no?
Could be more. Here’s one without a garage.
https://www.redfin.com/CA/Redwood-City/2304-Cheshire-Way-94061/home/1649913
First saw the listing (wasn’t able to see the house) back in 2011, and I’m pretty sure it was a short sale. It sold for $550K in Feb 2012, and I remember thinking it was an inside deal and the bank lost big. I suspect a comparable with garage was worth at least $800K at the time, especially in that location.
Saw it listed again in Sept 2016–decided to go see what the heck was so bad with it. They were asking $1.2M which for that location and a decent interior and a garage would’ve been fine–and it had been renovated. When I visited, I inquired, as I usually do, about offer date–they were taking offers as they came. They had to lower the price to even get an offer.
Note that in Sept 2016 any house should’ve gone with 10 bids, 3 of them all cash, over ask with an offer date. Having to waive an offer date and not having any offers for 3 weeks is unusual.
I think the fact that this house is alongside a busy street (Alameda de las Pulgas), is located at an intersection (no stop sign) where if you were pulling your car out backwards you have a slight blind spot where a car making a right turn might be coming kinda fast at you and the low school rankings had a more say in the pricing than the lack of a garage.
But dude aren’t you the guy who schooled me on the importance of having a garage in SF? So only in SF you need garages?
Garage conversions are illegal in most cities. 2 covered parking spaces are required in most cities…
My townhouse up in Santa Rosa doesn’t have garages. When I first bought it and trying to get it rented out, it was slow moving. My PM told me it’s tougher to rent out houses without garages.
I never park my cars in garage. But the space is tremendously useful for storing random shit.
In Tahoe a garage adds $50k in value… Much more in the BA…
Absolutely, at that time I said it and I frankly would have built the garage spaces in Chinatown if we broke ground back then (which today might be better served by units instead), but the reality is, with the advent of the self driving car and the acceptability of services like Uber has made me change my thoughts on that. I would say the importance of garages has declined some, that’s all, especially in places like the Fab 7x7. Now, I do believe higher end buildings with well to do folks still need garages since rich people want to have their own cars. Case in point, a 3 unit building near our Chinatown building did not sell (granted a few years ago). I called the agent to get info as to why. He point blank said that many folks came and once they saw that there were no garages they said no. The self driving cars and Uber services have really changed things.
Yes, but… The house isn’t on Alameda, and that part isn’t really that busy.
Houses on Alameda–if they had the same stats plus a garage–would have gone for higher.
I did say alongside, so one may hear the occasional speeding car go by too? Sure the poor school rankings didn’t factor into it for you folks so into that?
Something that complicates it is the overall square footage–people do count the garage as usable square footage–because it is storage space, or could be a living room. So it would be valid to say "What would a 3BR, 2BA, 1400 sq ft house with 2 car garage have gone for… But I still think $550K in 2012 was a steal in that area for that. Should still have been $750K and up.
But houses on the Alameda itself were selling for more…
Doubtful. You can sell houses in Selby Lane district for $2M nowadays. 1/3 of RWC kids do private schools. And the nearby houses were going for more.
