Many of the individuals who have one-story homes decide to install second stories. They’ll certainly be changing their homes dramatically in the process. While second-story houses are not always more valuable than all one-story houses, this does tend to be the case. A person or family who puts a second-floor addition on a nice one-story house will substantially add to that home’s value. That point is especially true in certain neighborhoods.
A second-floor addition can add value
The people who specifically want to add another story to their homes to improve the resale value of those homes are usually making a sound decision. However, there are still a lot of different subtle factors to consider regarding something as complicated as the real estate industry.
For one thing, if this is the one two-story home in a neighborhood that otherwise has one-story homes, that could be an issue. It’s possible that this is a neighborhood that tends to draw in working professionals who do not have large families.
They may specifically want to live in neighborhoods like that. A large enough house with two stories might be too expensive for some of these people.
Even if the house would be more valuable in a vacuum, the increased price could actually make it at least slightly harder to sell in a given neighborhood. Even though it might not seem like that at first.
Of course, some people won’t mind waiting a little while to sell their newer and more heavily remodeled homes. If they are only planning on selling their homes after a number of years, they will not necessarily be able to predict the state of the residential real estate market.
It’s certainly possible that the whole neighborhood will have changed by then. Then they’ll only be among the first in the neighborhood to have started everything.
Local homes
People in one-story homes in areas that mainly have two-story homes will have even more reason to add that additional story. Their homes will blend in with the others more easily once the second-floor addition is in place.
A house that has one story in a neighborhood that is full of two-story homes might also have less overall value than it would otherwise. This means that the people who purchased it initially will have a strong advantage. They were able to get the house when it was comparatively less expensive. After adding a second story, the house might be much more valuable.
When the current house’s owners eventually do sell it, they’ll earn even more money from the sale than they would have without the second story. Thus, it is a particularly sound investment in this situation.
Multiple rooms
The top level typically has several bedrooms. While the new story does not have to be designed that way, people usually add a second-floor addition to get more bedrooms or more spare rooms.
Neighborhoods that are full of families with kids will have a lot of houses like that. The new home buyers might have two or more kids themselves, and they could need a residence like that.
Some of the people who are getting additional stories might be doing so because they’re planning on having kids themselves. While people in that situation usually just move to larger houses, they may have invested a lot of money in a specific house already. If the area has a lot of great schools and other benefits, it might make even more sense to stay there.
Concluding words on a second-floor addition
The process of buying and selling homes can be complex and time-consuming. There are cases where installing a new second story might genuinely be more efficient than the alternatives.
At our ages, we prefer living on one floor, but the points you made are valid ones. Many of the people in our neighborhood are updating their homes, and quite a few are adding second stories.
When we retired we bought a lot and semi designed our own home. Got graph paper out. Took it to the builder and he refined it. I liked your suggestions and can easily see how we could modify our home. If I were 20 years younger I might.
Now I could be happy sleeping, eating, computing in one room. I hear someone puttering around in the other rooms. lol