Doing an addition, home value increase?

[Orazio LaFata]

Hey everyone, I’m just curious if anyone has had experience with doing an addition in the basement? My current home is a 2 bedroom house. My wife and I purchased this home and you can tell someone started to put an additional bedroom room in the basement and just didn’t finish.

I was wondering has anyone had experience building an addition bedroom in the basement? If so, how did you go about finding out how much your house was worth afterwards? Did you have your home assessed by a realtor? Did the bank assess it? Did your taxes increase?

I'm thinking of obtaining a HELOC against this property and was trying to raise the value of the home. Any suggestions or info would be great.

[Evan Polaski]

@Orazio LaFata, you will want to talk to some local real estate agents.  They will have the best idea for your market.

Beyond value, you will want to make sure it is a legal bedroom.  In most areas there will need to be an egress window available to the room, with a maximum sill height.  In many below-grade basements, especially older homes, you will need to excavate some of the exterior grade and cut in a new window.  

As Aaron notes, many times this additional cost makes the venture not worth while.  Of course, you can always make it a  bonus room, and stage it with a bed.  But you cannot market it as a 3rd bedroom if it is not a conforming bedroom.