Interesting website . We just moved into a 32 year old home in a wonderful old neighbourhood with the best schools in town. The house we moved in meets our requirements with a little bit of compromise. Some of the things we are feeling iffy about now after we moved into the house are

Its a 4 bedroom home with 2 1/2 baths. It is good that one of the baths is a Jack and Jill connecting the kids and guest bedrooms.

The Master bath has NO tub and a small closet. We are used to a huge 150- 200 sq ft closet and so even if this one has couple of storage units, it is a bit small. the closet connects to an open dressing area ( a step down from the main bedroom area) and the other side is the master bath area – with a nice walk in shower and toilet.

We have also seen that the bedrooms has windows on the west side with the sun hitting full on. My kids are little and still take naps and even with the fan and AC it seems too hot.

We renovated the floors before moving in – rippin out old carpet and replacing with a combination of tile and hardwood. IT cost about 14000 and we have zero carpte in the house. is this a good thing? Will I see an ROI? Do you have any suggestions for renovating the Master bedroom/bath area?. Thanks and I apologize for the long post.

Regards
Uganesh

I lived in Granite Bay for a year or so, just outside of Roseville near Sacramento in Placer County.

No matter where you are or what you do, the house is likely to value out as a 1,300 sf two bedroom house with a finished basement. Rarely will appraisers give the basement level the same price per square foot value as the above ground level. (I’m assuming it’s roughly 1,300 up and 1,300 down, total 2,600 or thereabouts).

Not trying to diss the home choice, but I’ve seen french doors added that way and given the cost of excavation, I don’t think the added value will outweigh the cost. Mostly because the value of the lower level is somewhat contained by the fact that it is still a finished basement.

Probably better to stage and make sure the area is well lit. Even leave the lights on or have lots of Open Houses as soon as it hits the market with all of the lights on. Pay the most attention and cost to the main level.

I have had experience with a very similar home. Two bedrooms up, three bedrooms and a bonus room down. A door to the outside (you walked up some steps to reach ground level). There are several like that in Seattle and most often someone buys the house for the main floor, and ends up renting out the lower level. So they buy it based on how much they like the main level and the location. The basement is “an extra” with limited return on improvements.

Appreciate it

I don’t know where you are, but in Seattle bedrooms having small windows in basements is a fire code violation, even when there is a common door to the outside. Before you spend your money on other improvements, given 3 of the bedrooms are in the basement “with small windows”, make sure the window size conforms to local code for ingress and egress under the fire code.

We have a budget of 40,000 and was wondering if it is worth it to escavate outside and provide a outdoor entrance to the back yard from the basement? Included in our budget is redo bathrooms,update kitchen(perhaps extent it), paint, landscaping and flooring(carpet).
We are hoping to flip it in about 2 months. Our first flip !

Looking forward to hearing from you.

I was happy with the cost. It was in line with the lowest bid offered out of 4 and gave me top of the line equipment. I could have gone the more expensive route to get a higher rated SEER unit for the furnace, but I would have had to buy 2 units to get the same output.

The total install time was 2 days and the job looks clean and compact. No over-built lines and ducts and it runs very quietly. My old units used to rattle the closet doors near the garage!

My electric bill for June-July showed a slight cost increase from last year, but still not material. The high SEER rating really helped.

Thanks for the update! You sound happy. Can you give us some cost data? Having cost data for viewing is a great service to those thinking about doing a project. What was your decision process regarding more expensive/less expensive?

Installed Carrier 80 SEER Furnace…highest rating possible for a 5 Ton unit. Also added a 21 SEER A/C unit along with a new control unit.

The system works awesome! The temp is so well balanced and the humidity has been completely eliminated. I don’t even care if it doesn’t add value to the house. I’m just so glad I can get some decent sleep on those very hot days.

Next projects:

Renovate basement to game/entertainment/guest room
Add outdoor kitchen and patio