Finishing the Basement: A Job You Can Do Better by Avoiding
Having a basement is a standard feature in most of the country, and even where it is not a feature of every home, such as most of California and other parts of the Southwestern United States, you will sometimes see a home with one. Where they are provided, most new homes come with the basement unfinished. In many cases it stays that way. If you live in a home with an unfinished space downstairs, you might be considering whether or not to get busy and finish it. After all, it adds a lot of needed space and generally the cost would not even be comparable to the cost of moving to a roomier home. On the other hand, if you are looking for a home, you might be tempted to think you can save a lot of money by buying a home with an unfinished basement and doing the work yourself.
Finishing a basement can turn out to be costly. You are not likely to recover your cost when the time comes to sell the home. In fact, according to a Remodeling Magazine estimate, paying to finish a basement (national average figures) will only get you about 75% return on the dollar when you sell the home. The result is that you'll probably lose money if you buy a house with an unfinished basement and finishing it later.
The way it turns out, then, is that in most cases when you are looking for a home, it's good to find a home that already has a finished basement. It's the other side of the same analysis that says it doesn't pay for the seller to spend the money on the work. As the buyer, you are in a position to get the bargain because of that fact.
In addition to saving time and money, which are pretty strong motivators by themselves, there are some other benefits to buying a home with an already-done basement. Basements underground tend to be pretty stable in terms of temperature. They stay relatively warm in the winter and cool in the summer, which means that you'll spend less on heating and air conditioning if you take advantage of the natural stability of earth insulation.
A finished basement provides more living space to the home. Basements are no longer just used to store things. A well finished basement can be used for additional bedrooms, a rec room, a laundry room, a study, a large living room, or exercise rooms.
If you live in an area where tornadoes have to be taken into account like the Midwest, the basement can be the best place to take refuge when a storm threatens. The anxiety of having to go into a shelter with a tornado in the vicinity can be frightening. A comfortable, accommodating space can help ease anxieties and make the experience better for the family.
So when you buy your next piece of real estate, do yourself a favor and look for a home with a finished basement. Take advantage of someone else having done the work -- you can enjoy the benefits of their labor.
Content made available by Automated Homefinder, your Colorado real estate experts.
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