I like to look at homes for sale. We are not looking to sell or buy anytime soon. We would like to do some updating and I find looking at home listings to be fascinating.
Some random thoughts.
A house in our neighborhood has been updated and is back on the market after 6 months. I personally think this was the plan but the owner said she wants to move closer to her kids now.
The house was sold the first time with 1900 sqft. It’s a ranch with a walkout basement with a non conforming bedroom. It’s now listed at 3700 sqft with an almost double price jump for the updated square footage. Nothing in the basement was updated. Did the listing agent make a mistake with the first listing at 1900 sqft?
If you look at a home is the basement space a consideration? If it’s a walkout or not? To me, a basement is a basement walkout or not. Maybe I’m strange. We could update our basement to a walkout without much work.
When the house was updated, the new owner put LVT throughout the first floor. Do you like LVT that looks like wood in the bathroom?
I saw 8 different changes of flooring. Do you like the floor to look the same throughout the whole story? We are conversing(!) that the kitchen and the adjacent laundry room have the wood type floors run in the same direction? Long narrow laundry room, husband thinks that it would look weird to have the wood type floor running in the same direction as the kitchen.
If you look at an updated kitchen, what do you think about painted oak cabinets with new quartz countertops?
This is not a million dollar home but normal 1990’s moderate subdivision.
In my non-educated opinion. I would count the basement if it’s finished. Our old house was a ranch with a walk-out basement. It was 1450SF on the first floor, but the walk-out basement was a huge den, a small full bathroom and a “bedroom” that was more like an office. It was H’s toy collectibles room. We listed ours as 2550 SF. The unfinished portion wasn’t included.
Sometimes I’ve seen things listed with two numbers, finished SF and total. Granted, that’s just around here. I don’t spend much time on Zillow.
And as far as decorating, don’t ask my opinion. H is our decorator.
I agree with @ClassicMom98 that if the basement is a walk out and is finished nicely and includes other living areas (not laundry) like a bedroom it should be included in the sq footage. Some lower levels are as nice or nicer than the main floor! A “rec room” type room with 50 year old tile flooring and a knotty pine bar, I say no.
Smart buyers/realtors will be on to your neighbor.
Since we deep into looking I will say that I often see “2500 sq ft house with an additional 1000 sq ft of space in the basement” - another clue, “basement” vs. “lower level”.
I have always loved house hunting, Zillow, open houses, peeking in windows at dusk (from the sidewalk, not from the bushes!!) . I can talk about it all day!
We don’t have basements here, but ds1 has a basement where he lives. My understanding is that if you finish the basement you can count it in the square footage. And where they live, you can only count refinished space, such as an attic, as a bedroom if there’s a closet, even if the closet doesn’t have a door.
Won’t tax records reveal a discrepancy if the owners are trying to pull a fast one?
ETA: I’ve had many Realtors tell me that lots of different floorings is a turnoff to buyers. When we redo our floors, we are putting the same flooring in every room except the bathrooms.
Also wanted to say that while I don ‘t want 10 different types of flooring I also don’t love when EVERYTHING is the same. I was so disappointed in a flipped waterfront house the other day - I had been in it in the fall - it was a MESS but is a 1925 beautiful floors when refinished house. Welp, the flipper put in all new hardwood on the main floor, stained it dark, painted all trim white including the beautiful staircase and then stained all the upstairs lighter hardwood floors to match the first floor - and painted all trim white. Ugh. It looks so boring!
I also admit to being someone who likes to mix styles. Like including some MCM in my 1920’s home.
We have all this 1990’s oak in this house. Oak kitchen cabinets. Wide oak trim around the windows, sliders and door. Oak columns and an oak fireplace. It’s a lot!
We are thinking of painting it. To make it more neutral and to add some other elements and color. So it’s not so 1990’s!
Interesting about the basements. Our basement is not counted in square footage but is definitely finished. I want to tear out the carpet yuk! And put down LVT.
I’ll have to look at the taxes. Because 1900 and 3700 sqft are not the same.
S & DiL are looking, my IL are looking, I spend a lot of time on Zillow!
Non starters – overly decorative tile, wall treatments, railings, floors. Likewise, vivid wall color is a headshaker – yeah you can repaint, but who wants to?
Unified flooring can be carried too far. No kitchen or bathroom should have carpet. Open floor plans are fine to divide by flooring differences, but don’t get carried away. Wood always is preferred, yes, even in bathrooms. My kitchen and adjoining laundry room have tile and pergo, running the same way in the same colorway(compromise for the problem mentioned, maybe our DHs are related?) I’d be careful about painting cabinets – at least oak is classic; not everybody likes white and choosing a color is risky.
Gardens and landscaping count more than you might think. Anything new in a kitchen is a plus. Ditto bathrooms. Basements should proclaim how dry they are, and potentially useable – a finished ceiling is better than a finished floor.
We had our kitchen oak cabinets painted. There is a thread I started about that including pictures. I love it! And so does everyone who has seen it. Just brightened things up.
Our wood trim is a medium brown. And the downstairs is custom trim. We didn’t paint that…if the next owner wants to do that, they can.
Our whole main floor…except the bathroom…has red oak floors…no stain. We love it. Very nice not to have breaks of different flooring.
Re: lower levels. We have 1000 sq Ft of finished space in our walkout lower level. When listed, the house will have 2600 sq ft with an additional 1000 sq ft finished in the lower level. We won’t list it as a 3600 sq ft house.
I love looking at houses and stalking new listings on the real estate websites.
We’ve lived in a number of different states and it seems like finished square footage in basements on listings is state specific. In our last house, we had 1200 finished sq ft in the basement that wasn’t included in the listing but certainly helped in selling the house. In my current area, it seems finished basements are counted in the square footage.
I prefer tile over LVT in bathrooms. But, we did just put LVT in our newly renovate basement (with tile in the bathroom and the wine cellar).
Generally speaking I like consistent flooring. I think it makes a house feel bigger.
I think painted older oak cabinets with new countertops looks like lipstick on a pig but it depends on the style of the old cabinets.
I subscribe to Redfin - multiple zip codes, 2 states, Hawaii (Maui, my fantasy retirement home) and California (Los Angeles) - several times a day I receive email with listings - I love looking at what/how others are doing with their spaces - I’m a real estate voyeur! I love color and find white & gray “boring” - I hardly ever even look at flooring (except when I’m ready to buy - no carpets, and prefer hardwood).
Yours looks great! You have a really nice classic style of cabinet!
I wish I had a photo of the house we looked at when we were looking for our current house. They painted these really old 1950s cabinets that were crooked and didn’t open properly, installed new counters and appliances that didn’t actually fit the openings, and were asking a premium price for the house ($1 million +).
turning an empty space into a bedroom, bathroom, and sitting area. This summer, DH is installing a dry-bar kitchenette under the stairs, similar to this:
These improvements provide private guest quarters and almost double the usable space in the cabin and should definitely be included in total square footage although we have no plans to ever sell this place (see the Disaster Plan thread).
I don’t like multiple floor treatments. I agree with @momofboiler1 that consistent flooring makes a home look more spacious. I love hardwood floors, but LVP looks good, too, in the right place.
