If you raise the level of a floor to the rest of the house…will the room be considered “Liveable Square Footage?”
In my area, there plenty of homes where a room, (either a Garage or Patio room) has been converted to a bedroom with AC/HEAT vents, electrical, etc. but…the floor of the home is one step down from the rest of the house.
My question is If you raise the level of a floor to the rest of the house…will the room be considered “Liveable Square Footage” in an appraisal report?
I guess you must knock a hole in the wall for a window and of course electric must be present…but other than raising the floor, what other requirements can you think of?
Where I am the level has nothing to do whether it’s counted or appraised as live-able square footage. If a conversion is properly permitted for it’s use it becomes live-able square footage. Some areas don’t allow for an increase in living area and at the same time a reduction of off street parking, which is why so many garage conversions aren’t permitted. I just demo-ed an unpermitted wall that was used to enclose a patio. The added interior space was great, but the two baths had vent windows into what had previously been outdoor space. I would have had to roof vent both baths to make the wall legal, which would have went way off budget.
There’s usually a reason that the illegal conversions and additions that I see were done without permits. An appraiser will usually know to not count the space if it even looks like it wasn’t permitted.
Kristine’s understanding matches mine. I have never heard that the floor height mattered in terms of what was legal. There could be an issue with different floor heights being less desirable so less valuable in terms of what a willing buyer will pay.
Interesting…how different states look at liveable space.
In Florida…floor height is ONE of the items they look at when it comes to being counted towards liveable space. Another would be windows, electrical outlets and ductwork vents.