Currently we have a tiny living room and want to extend it by taking down the guest bedroom wall and make it bigger and brighter. It will reduce the bedrooms from 5 to 4. In the current plan there is no designated dining area. House has a big kitchen and room for a breakfast nook. By removing that bedroom, we will be extending the living room and establish a formal dining area in that space.
A little history on the property, it was originally a 1160 sqft 3 bed 2 bath ranch style house. Previous owner extended the kitchen added a family room on the ground floor, added first floor with master bedroom suite (walkin closet, bathroom) and a game room (considered as bedroom in public facts) bringing it to a total 2660 sqft living space with 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms on ground floor and 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom on 1st floor (attached to master bd).
Currently, for the occupants of the game room bedroom, the access to bathroom is tricky. They either need to pass through the master bedroom to get to the attached bathroom or go downstairs and use the guest bathroom. In future we want to add a walk in closet and attached bathroom to the game room bedroom to make it a complete suite for our kid. At that point it will become a 4 bedroom 4 bathroom home.
Would we be reducing the home value by removing a bedroom, although it’s a sensible addition for that size house ? How much tax will be reduced as the number of bedrooms are decreased. Contractor is suggesting leave it out as is in city records and when you sell just build the wall back if it fetches more dollars.
Personal opinion: Dining rooms are overrated and outdated. Openspace, imho, adds value to the house. A nice island in the kitchen with a bench-like table might give it the modern look you need!
Wait, is that necessarily true (that tax goes down) if your renovation (should you go through permiting) added value is high relative to the losing of the bedroom?
The dining space is an option. It can be used as an living room. The current kitchen has a narrow island with no seating space and breakfast nook fitting not more than 4 people.
Sure, technically, but you asked about the assessed value or taxes and I am saying isn’t it also possible to get the double whammy where you go smaller (lower value) but your assessed value goes up since your renovation happened to be really high (hypothetically). I don’t know the answer to that.
I see that the renovation most likely may not reduce the taxes or it’s value as long as it’s sensible and appealing to general crowd
It might reduce the value for auto calculators like zillow and redfin.
It sounds like you will be improving the floor plan, this should increase your resale value. Don’t listen to the contractor’s opinion on leaving it off the record. If you want to optimize resale, do it by the book. Don’t cut corners on behalf of the contractor.
For property tax get in touch wth he county assessor’s office.
I just tested the calculator theory, removed one bedroom from our property in redfin mentioning error and that the public facts will be changed after the permit gets to the assessor. The price estimate dropped by 40k.
Never heard of assessed value dropping unless you demolished something. I think there’s a chance they don’t increase the assessed value since the space is the same.
A fully functional floorplan is worth more than one that has an unnatural flow. It doesn’t matter if you lose a bedroom. If you go from a 3b to a 2b you will lose some value. You are going from 5 to 4. You will be ok!
That’s very interesting. I always assumed that 4 was the maximum bedrooms for most people, unless poorer areas. Poor areas have 5-6 bedrooms. I am always amazed by number of bedrooms on Oahu. Bedrooms galore and smaller homes.
You don’t have to do big changes in your home to make it look more spacious. There are a lot of affordable living room ideas that can help you. Removing the bedroom seems like a good idea, but instead you can replace the furniture. Try to go for an extensible sofa. That way you can gain a lot more space. Try to reuse the old furniture, and give them a fresh coat of paint, that can make them look like new. Try to add a few decorations, and remove the things you don’t necessary need.
Considering the advice of your contractor to leave the bedroom as is in city records and potentially rebuild the wall before selling, it’s important to note that misrepresenting the property’s features or layout can lead to legal and ethical issues. It’s generally recommended to be transparent about any modifications made to the property.
