Going from 4,2,2 to 5,3,2

[danwatto]

Hi All,

At the moment this house is "officially" a 4 bedroom.

I've never done major renovations before and I'm wondering how much benefit (to valuation and rent) it would be to fully make it a 5,3,2.

The layout is as follows:
UPSTAIRS:
* Massive main bedroom with Ensuite (no bath)
* Second full bathroom (includes bath)
* 3 other bedrooms, all with builtin robes

DOWNSTAIRS:
* Double garage
* Living/Kitchen open plan
* Office/Rumpus, has 2 windows on one side, and a sliding door to the backyard on the other. Already has a close-able door but no wardrobe.
* Large size toilet room & vanity.
* Huge laundry next to the toilet room.

The conversion would involve:
1. Add an Ikea wardrobe to the office, so that it can be called a bedroom.
2. Add a 3rd shower to the laundry, or try and squeeze a small shower into corner of the toilet room by removing the vanity to make space. I can then put a small wall-basin in so that all 3 fit.

Has anyone done a similar improvement before - and how much extra on the valuation did it work out as?

Also - how do valuers get the figure for the number of bedrooms that get fed into the valuation (this is in NSW). Would I need to do anything at council to have the number of bedrooms changed "officially"? even though I'm just adding a wardrobe?

 

[vaughan]

The conversion would involve:
1. Add an Ikea wardrobe to the office, so that it can be called a bedroom.

Check that the office meets the standards for a habitable room: light, ventilation, ceiling height. There may be a reason it's an office.

 

[Cards]

Firstly, I would check property comparisons Ie.. does a 5,3,2 add more value?
What is the your local land square footage average?
What is the your local building foot print / FSR average?

In some areas, what you are proposing would de-value the property as large rooms are expected in certain areas.
Just carving up a rooms to create more rooms can work ie? Student accommodation.

Research, research, research!

Check with your local council requirements for adding bedrooms.
For valuation purpose's, RP Data can be informed of the change once you have approval from council.

 

[danwatto]

In some areas, what you are proposing would de-value the property as large rooms are expected in certain areas.
Just carving up a rooms to create more rooms can work ie? Student accommodation.

Not sure what you're saying here, you're saying it could de-value the property to list it as a 5 bedroom, then you're saying carving up rooms for student accommodation can work? Seems to be a contradiction.

What I'm talking about doing is adding a wardrobe and calling the 5th bedroom a bedroom instead of an office. There will be zero effect on the large living area.

Check with your local council requirements for adding bedrooms.
For valuation purpose's, RP Data can be informed of the change once you have approval from council.

I'm not adding bedrooms, I'm just adding a wardrobe.
I can update RP data easily, but is this really what valuers actually use?

 

[danwatto]

Check that the office meets the standards for a habitable room: light, ventilation, ceiling height. There may be a reason it's an office.

Thanks Vaughan, I didn't think about that but it will meet standards, ceiling is the same height as the bedrooms and it has 3 windows, and a door, plus aircon and a fan so plenty of ventilation.

 

[Cards]

For some reason I thought you were chopping a room up.

Are offices expected within your area?

 

[danwatto]

Personally I don't see the need for an office, when usually all an office is, is either a bedroom used as an office or a small study nook on the edge of another room.

When houses are advertised, there's no placeholder for how many offices it has, so I think I'm losing value by having an office in there.

The other point is - when I have had a home office in the past one of the biggest uses has been the cupboard space for computer equipment, cables, books, papers etc.

Offices aren't in demand in that area, currently the tenants are a bunch of people sharing. Although I've had a family of 3 (self-employed) before. Tenants are very varied in this area.

 

[Scott No Mates]

With 5 bedrooms you would need to have 2 living areas - a combined kitchen/dining/lounge simply doesn't cut it.

 

[DaveM]

Sounds like you already have a 5br... stick a bed in the office when you get a valuation

Also yes on 2 living.. my PPOR is 5br 3 living and if you had 4 kids + parents, you would still run out of room

 

[zimby]

I'm not adding bedrooms, I'm just adding a wardrobe.
I can update RP data easily, but is this really what valuers actually use?

I've used a Desktop valuation( RP Data) Generated via combank to withdraw up to 80% equity.
No onsite valuation required.
Get a Broker to Modify the building details on the property and run the report.
This is the paper figure you are likely to have( well market may change) but will give you an idea.
Make sure you go through a broker, as they have better leverage than going direct to a bank( well with combank anyways) they have different processing departments with more flexibility for the department dealing with Brokers.

 

[danwatto]

Yeah it only has one living area, because the upstairs spare area is a massive void to give high ceilings for downstairs.

Only one living area, but it is an extremely large living area.

I know it would be more beneficial for something going from 2 to 3 bedrooms, rather than 4 to 5..

Need to think about this a bit more.

 

[danwatto]

I've used a Desktop valuation( RP Data) Generated via combank to withdraw up to 80% equity.
No onsite valuation required.
Get a Broker to Modify the building details on the property and run the report.
This is the paper figure you are likely to have( well market may change) but will give you an idea.

Unfortunately desktop vals don't work for this property. Using RP data, pricefinder, or CBAs online tool (or my brokers), the desktop val comes to $550k below the last bank val.

I don't know exactly why, but I suspect it was because the block was split in 2007 and there is now a "10a" house as well. Could be that the desktop vals are referencing the title of the land on the smaller piece, although they do say 4 bedrooms. Really strange.

On the other hand I may have been quite lucky with that particular val