During the course of a year in my capacity as a Realtor I get to view many houses at both ends of the price spectrum. Recently I got to see a home that had been subjected to some "improvements" by the owner. In doing so, the home, which was priced at just under a million had been ruined; and I do not use that term lightly.
As I surveyed the property, I remarked to my wife, as I often do in these situations, "Looks like someone got a D-I-Y book on Architecture this Christmas." I was also reminded of the current T.V. commercial where a doctor advises a patient where to make an incision over the telephone. You wouldn't operate on yourself, so equally, get some professional advice before altering your home.
Back to the house in question. The garage had been converted into two bedrooms. The first could only be reached by going through a laundry room. Ok, that's not too bad. The second could be accessed in two ways. By going through the aforementioned laundry room and bedroom, how nice, or by going through the master bedroom and through the master bedroom closet. Realtors like to call them "tandem bedrooms", I like to call them ridiculous.
To compound this the owner had built a new garage in front of the property and then installed a pool between the house and the garage. Doesn't sound too bad, except that all the way to the rear of the property was the outdoor kitchen with a BBQ area completely separated by the house. A family day of outdoor fun would be totally compromised by this crazy set up. The sad thing is that there was plenty of room out back for the pool.
A prospective buyer would wander round this home aimlessly and leave looking dazed and confused. This home owner spent a lot of money on these modifications buy seriously devalued his property as most of them would have to be undone; or the home sold at a seriously discounted price.
Please consult a professional.
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