Adding a deck for its value to sell a house.?

Question

Our house has this HUGE backyard, that, when we bought the hosue came equipped with a 4' by 4' deck attached to the sliding door, in fact the deck is so small the bottom of the stair doesnt even reach wider than the width of the entire sliding door, its a joke, and its been there for ten years.

We might be selling the hosue and since i have been workign on houses and building decks all the last two years, i thought why not build one on my parents home so that it woudl help them to sell it and make money.

My question is if i were to build a nice deck as described below, about how much could i expect it to increase the value of the home?

It will be 19' x 29' all composite decking, vinyl rails, and vinyl skirt. Have a 12 foot wide stair layed diagonal (coming out of where one corner woudl be) into the yard where a pool might eventually go. and out of the other corner one of those fancy octagonal things.

Its about 13k in materials will it be worth my investment of money?

19 ho

Answer 1

I'd skip the deck and pool. Let the new owner decide if it"s something they want. You get a better return on upgrading the kitchen and/or bathroom. Ask any realtor.

Answer 2

Octagonal things you mean a gazebo? It is a hit or miss situation with your scenario. A pool is a definite plus because not many people have the cash to put in one after they buy and dont want to deal with the hassle so when they buy a house with a pool theyll pay more and it goes into the mortgage so its not a lump some out of there pocket. A deck is very nice but heres the deal if your buyer is not handy and they like the outdoors yes you have raised the value but if the buyer is handy he wont want to pay for the work since he would buy the property cheaper and build one himself. 13k is a lot in materials plus your labor so you would want to raise the value by about 20gs. If you were buying a house would you pay 20gs more for a deck? Or would you want to build it yourself and save the money? Especially in todays market.

Answer 3

I doubt it will be a 1-to-1 increase in price versus what you're looking to spend. Especially since you don't know what the potential buyers want to do with that space. I mean, the first people who look at it might say, "I really like the place, but that deck is so big. Where will we put the garden?"

I think you would be better off building a kind of large landing (like 6x8 feet) with stairs going down all around. That way you're spending way less money, it will take a whole lot less time and effort, and there will at least be a proper landing outside of that door (like there's supposed to be).

Very few remodeling items return as much as 90 cents on the dollar, with kitchen remodeling and bathroom addition being the top two. Decks are more subjective. You don't really know whether someone will find the house more valuable just because it has one. The only way they're a sure-fire value item is if you couldn't have as good a view without it. I have a deck in front of my home (about 10 x 16) and it adds a lot of value, because I live on a hill overlooking Mission Bay. And, I wouldn't be able to go out and enjoy that view without a deck there.