Services

Customized Home Additions

Home additions are a great renovation solution for space problems or dysfunctional floor plans. Remodel Me Today offers design build room additions for their valued clients’ lifestyle challenges. With promises to listen to client needs, discussing budget, evaluating home options and explore with clients the feasible possibilities. Depending on the selected project scope, RMT will work with clients to advance their design from hand sketches to permit ready construction plans. Once RMT has completed the details of their building plans, RMT can reliably finalize clients renovation cost.

Types of additions clients desire:

• New Master Bedroom Suite
• Multi-generational Living Area
• Family Room
• Game Room
• Media Room
• Home Gym
• Visitor Quarters
• Garage Expansion
• Second Floor Addition
• Additional Bedrooms
• Kitchen/Bath Expansion

Every homeowner goes through huge family changes during different periods of their life. The typical answer to space issues within a home is to buy a new home rather than plan a room addition. Although this is not always possible; for example, families with children find it difficult to move locally and disrupt their children’s life by changing schools. This can also apply to aging seniors who have been in their homes for many years and find it undesirable to move their location due to immediate family nearby or familiarity of the immediate neighborhood they live in. So instead of seeking a new home, they identify their lifestyle needs and begin to reimage different space needs within their home. This often leads to building room additions and/or undertaking a major renovation to the existing home.

BENEFITS
There are many benefits for homeowners to consider expanding the envelope of their existing home. The most significant benefit of building room additions on to their existing home is that it is simply one of the best and most cost effective financial alternatives to a space problem with their home. Adding a home addition becomes extremely attractive when compared to buying a new home. Especially when clients take into account the expenses associated with the transaction cost. When clients add up the cost of commissions, closing cost and moving expenses associated with buying a new home, the cost of a major addition or renovation becomes an attractive solution.

The second most significant benefit to the homeowner is that they can design nearly anything desired. After clients have carefully considered changing lifestyle needs, it is helpful to discuss the options with a design build remodeling professional. RMT will listen to client needs and review any documents or ideas that they present in an effort to explore the possible options available. Once clients discover the feasible options, they should consider contracting to design their desired improvements to determine if they will fit the expected future needs. A professional design build general contractor should be able to design the addition and improvements within the clients target budget.

One of the important matters in weighing alternative considerations is understanding the inherent value loss in the selling and buying transaction process. When homeowners add square footage to their home they increase the value while preserving the capital appreciation in value accumulated over the years. When they sell the existing home and buy another home in a nearby neighborhood, the increased value appreciation from the existing home is lost in the transaction. Homeowners do not actually lose the cash value during the transaction, but rather their capital appreciation is offset by the sales price of the home they are buying. A portion of the sales price of the home they are buying reflects the capital appreciation that the seller has accumulated. Hence the capital appreciation from the sales price is negated by the seller’s capital appreciation realized.
Depending on what area homeowners live in, the home and land prices have traditionally increased by three to six percent annually. Based upon a modest home value in metro area of $200,000 over a period of five years would represent $50,000 in value appreciation at five percent. If homeowners use the average value of $500,000 for higher end neighborhoods over the same period at five percent annually, the appreciation would be $125,000 in a five year period. In both these cases over a short period of time, the value appreciation by itself would pay more than for the addition or major renovation to the existing home.

Another important, but often overlooked matter in a sell/buy scenario is the actual cost associated with transaction cost. The transaction cost is represented by sales commissions on the sold property, closing cost on both sides of the transaction and the moving cost. Let’s look at both of the previous scenarios (commissions six percent, closing cost one and a half percent, moving cost half a percent). In the case of the $200,000 sell/buy scenario, the total transaction cost would likely be approximately $16,000. Total potential value transfer loss of $66,000 = ($16,000 + $50,000). In the case of the $500,000 sell/buy scenario, the total would represent approximately $40,000. Total potential value transfer loss of $165,000 = ($40,000 + $125,000). It is also worth mentioning that these costs do not take in consideration the expenses associated with making the personal improvements to the home clients are purchasing.

One final benefit worth acknowledging is that if a homeowner is in the senior age group; for those homeowners whose home represents their homestead and are over the age of 65, they will receive additional benefits in favorable property tax treatment. There are additional tax benefits from the cap on their homes taxable value and additional homestead exemptions that seniors benefit from. This gets even better when homeowners consider the increased value of their existing homes square footage while enjoying the valuation cap after improvement cost adjustments.

Home additions can have a huge impact on space and lifestyle. The most important factor in planning the room addition is creating a seamless space between the new and the old space. This is not only architecturally important but if poorly done can negatively affect the value of the home. This adds to the importance of properly planning for new space and clearly visualizing the details before RMT commences with improvements. The benefits of RMT’s 3D drawings are very useful in visualizing furniture and fixture appointments, as well as color and contrast of the finished space.