Home elevator: Will we be able to recoup our cost when we sell? (properties, value)
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No Kudzu, Have you thought about talking to a realtor local to your zip code? Considering that you live in the most expensive city in NC, and that your city has something of a reputation as being very popular for retirees, you may well be the exception to the rule. It is more unique than someone simply installing one in a suburban tract home.
That's an excellent idea! Especially those realtors familiar with Chapel Hill (versus Cary or Raleigh).
I'm not sure where Chapel Hill is in relation to Cape Hatteras and Rodanthe, but when my wife and I stayed at the beach house in Cape Hatteras, all the homes had elevators, as they were three story homes with a carport comprising a fourth floor at the bottom and mud room leading to the staircase off the carport. Our beach house was around 5200 sq ft, and we would not have rented it had it not had an elevator. Although most of the occupants (15 total) were in good physical shape, there was so much going up and down it would have been difficult for us to navigate the stairs 20+ times each day. And this was just for a week long stay!
That's common on high end beach homes, because in order to get permitted or insured or whatever, the houses have to be built up higher than the expected storm surge. Its Not at all common inland, where most houses are built at ground level, because there isn't risk of the ocean flooding 150 miles inland.
I'm not sure where Chapel Hill is in relation to Cape Hatteras and Rodanthe, but when my wife and I stayed at the beach house in Cape Hatteras, all the homes had elevators, as they were three story homes with a carport comprising a fourth floor at the bottom and mud room leading to the staircase off the carport. Our beach house was around 5200 sq ft, and we would not have rented it had it not had an elevator. Although most of the occupants (15 total) were in good physical shape, there was so much going up and down it would have been difficult for us to navigate the stairs 20+ times each day. And this was just for a week long stay!
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Originally Posted by JONOV
That's common on high end beach homes, because in order to get permitted or insured or whatever, the houses have to be built up higher than the expected storm surge. Its Not at all common inland, where most houses are built at ground level, because there isn't risk of the ocean flooding 150 miles inland.
I wish it were common in the beach homes at Galveston Island, closer to my home. The beach houses around here can be just as big and are just as high up, but a lot of them don't have elevators. Of course that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's good for many people's physical health to take the stairs
I wish it were common in the beach homes at Galveston Island, closer to my home. The beach houses around here can be just as big and are just as high up, but a lot of them don't have elevators. Of course that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's good for many people's physical health to take the stairs
I used to watch House Hunters Beaches and a lot of those homes on stilts had outdoor open air elevators that were open and it seemed some were basic and mostly to get groceries up.
As a person who lives in a 2 story home and with osteoarthritis, I'd just go with the stairlift. As a buyer with kids, I wouldn't want an elevator. Homes over 4,000 sq ft here don't have elevators for some reason. Our previous home didn't have one and our current one (3700) could never accommodate one.
In my opinion, if your house is worth $300k without an elevator, it will be worth the same $300k with an elevator, so dont bother installing one. Your house value is based on comparable houses (comps).
Not true. Elevators do add value.
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Originally Posted by Austin Cowboy
I would go with the stair lift and later have it removed if needed. A bare bones lowest price elevator would be a huge mistake IMO. Salesman are only concerned with making the sale. 20k sounds suspiciously low for a home elevator system.
$20K is not a small amount of money and it is what home elevators go for.
My inlaws bought a house in a new construction Active Adult community a few years ago and spent $28K having an elevator installed as an option. I thought they were insane, since these houses are designed for older people, and have the master and all necessary rooms on the first floor to accommodate any mobility issues that might exist now or might arise in the future. The upstairs basically just has guest bedrooms.
The house also has a basement that my inlaws never use. The elevator will go to all three floors.
Personally, I cannot stand their elevator. It is extremely slow, so it is always faster to take the stairs. Also, it is extremely small, and I feel claustrophobic in there.
Plus, I had read a story of an elderly person (or couple) who died while trapped in their home elevator for some extended period of time. That is what would concern me the most -- that if you have an elevator (especially a small one) in the middle of your free-standing home, it is very possible no one would know if you became trapped in it.
So, from my perspective, if this were my situation, I'd go with the stair lifter, and the elevator would not factor into my personal valuation of a house at all. It would actually be a slight negative, because I wouldn't want to have to deal with it at all.
My inlaws don't use the elevator much -- most usage comes when my son is over there and likes to use it, because he thinks it's cool to have an elevator in the house. So he and the dog use it. If my inlaws ever became incapacitated to the point that they would have to use the elevator, I think they simply would not go to either of the non-main level floors. Plus, the elevator is so small, I'm not even sure it could accommodate a wheelchair, but I assume there are different sizes you can have installed.
In 2007 we bought a house about 3/4 finished. It is close to 5,000 sqft and was custom designed to steal a bit of space from a 3 car garage and a large storage closet on the 2nd floor for a future home elevator. The house is on a crawl space. We use that "future elevator" space as a mud room but if we put an elevator in there is plenty of room in the garage for a bench, pegs, storage lockers for the kids etc.
The original builders decided not to buy and that is where we came in. Now we are in the position of needing either an elevator or buying one of those stair climbers to get to the second floor. The elevator is very expensive but the stair climber is butt ugly and I'm thinking it would be a big negative for future buyers.
We are hoping to downsize in about 2-4 years to a single story home. Can we recoup the cost of that elevator? We haven't had any elevator people out yet but I just wanted to run this by the professionals here.
Thank you for your comments. Also do you recommend a particular brand or have warnings we should heed?
I cannot imagine searching for a two-story home of 5,000 square feet that does not have an elevator.
I would put that into my agent's search criteria and bypass homes without it.
My inlaws bought a house in a new construction Active Adult community a few years ago and spent $28K having an elevator installed as an option. I thought they were insane, since these houses are designed for older people, and have the master and all necessary rooms on the first floor to accommodate any mobility issues that might exist now or might arise in the future. The upstairs basically just has guest bedrooms.
The house also has a basement that my inlaws never use. The elevator will go to all three floors.
Personally, I cannot stand their elevator. It is extremely slow, so it is always faster to take the stairs. Also, it is extremely small, and I feel claustrophobic in there.
Plus, I had read a story of an elderly person (or couple) who died while trapped in their home elevator for some extended period of time. That is what would concern me the most -- that if you have an elevator (especially a small one) in the middle of your free-standing home, it is very possible no one would know if you became trapped in it.
So, from my perspective, if this were my situation, I'd go with the stair lifter, and the elevator would not factor into my personal valuation of a house at all. It would actually be a slight negative, because I wouldn't want to have to deal with it at all.
My inlaws don't use the elevator much -- most usage comes when my son is over there and likes to use it, because he thinks it's cool to have an elevator in the house. So he and the dog use it. If my inlaws ever became incapacitated to the point that they would have to use the elevator, I think they simply would not go to either of the non-main level floors. Plus, the elevator is so small, I'm not even sure it could accommodate a wheelchair, but I assume there are different sizes you can have installed.
From my personal use of a home elevator, I have discovered it offers a big advantage over stairlifters; you can haul crap up the stairs as well as humans. If you plan on using the upstairs as living space at all, it's very nice to be able to bring your laundry or whatever you need with you. But the stairlifter being removeable is a big plus for you to consider too, OP. I agree that you probably won't recoup your investment. It's more a matter of whether you would prefer an elevator or a stairlift. I do think people who aren't very mobile use elevators. In our group we had both very agile and a few people of limited mobility and everyone used the elevator. It was slow, which is to be expected for a residential elevator, but using it wasn't hard at all.
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