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November 3, 2009
Value of a Backyard?
Say you have 3 identical homes side by side, everything but the size of the backyard. One has a standard 100' lot, but the two others are 75' and 125' lots. So used to valuing psf etc but how would you discount/premium the yard differences?
Comments
In a recent appraisal for my home, the adjustment for comparable sales was $10 per square foot difference in lot size (and $20 per square foot difference in gross livable area). This was for homes in victorian flatbush and I'd assume both those factors would be higher in brownstone neighborhoods where houses and lots are smaller and prices higher on a psf basis. Those numbers struck me as low, compared to what an actual buyer in the market would be willing to pay.
Posted by: Bklnite at November 3, 2009 9:58 AM
What are tental rates today?
***Bill Thompson for Mayor (VOTE TODAY!!!)***
Posted by: Brownstones Half Off at November 3, 2009 10:02 AM
Is this for your home or a rental property?
If it is for you, depends on how much you want a bigger yard (more maintenance, but more stuff you can do with it).
If it is for a rental, I think quality of the yard is more important than quantity. I think people will pay 15-30% higher rent for an apt. with a yard, depending on how nice it is and how much they want it.
Generally speaking though, I'm not sure bigger is better with Brooklyn back yards unless you have a real plan for how the extra space is going to be used.
My apt. has a back yard, and to be honest, if it were 25 feet shorter, I don't think it would change my opinion of how much rent I'm willing to pay. It's more yard than I need and a smaller one would be less work to maintain.
Posted by: northsloperenter at November 3, 2009 10:05 AM
Houses across the street from me have bigger gardens & comps go for quite a lot more. No recent sales to glean percentages.
Posted by: Arkady at November 3, 2009 10:17 AM
I would look at the range of price per square foot in that neighborhood (say $500-650/sf for the size and condition of these 3 houses) and then figure out the average lot depth. Let's say for the sake of simplicity, it's 100 feet. All other things being equal, the deeper the yard the higher in the range. A house without a backyard I would value at $450 psf, with a 200 foot deep lot at $700 (outside the range because far outside normal expectations.)
Let's say you are looking at 3,000 sf houses, the price range might go from $1,500,000 for a shorter lot to $1,950,000 for an extra deep lot. The extent of the influence will depend on the value of the land, so a bigger lot will have a larger price difference in Brooklyn Heights than in Bed Stuy.
Posted by: Maly at November 3, 2009 10:21 AM
Assuming you have not maxed out the FAR and regardless of whether or not you ever plan to build/extend, a bigger lot means a larger allowbale SQF home and it should be valued based upon the remaining potential to add SQF to the home.
Posted by: ou812 at November 3, 2009 10:22 AM
"What are tental rates today?"
I get a great rate from Cobble & BH on my tent. (Just sayin')
Posted by: CarrollGardened at November 3, 2009 11:21 AM
thanks for the replies.
Bklnite thanks for the VF appraisal numbers. Wow, you're right those are really low. Even if one tripled those figures its still seems very low. northsloperenter it was for purchase price, and i've got couple of pooches that would be more than willing to "maintain" any backyard size.
maly, interesting, approach. is that your back of the napkin approach with comps?
that is indeed a lot of coin ($450k) going from no backyard to large backyard. if you were to look at that number just on the yard itself, assuming all else was the same, that would be around 150 -180 psf for the yard value for something like a 17'-20' width. given that many lots aren't usually zero or 200, but that "yard psf" is interesting number. could be even higher if you scaled down the yard range.
ou812 - in R6B land i haven't seen too much FAR squeeze broker babble being advertised today. The only people i usually see doing this are the scaranos of the world doing teardowns, or conversions, which are moving zero inventory right now. i'm referring to less than 3-family if that makes any difference. is this method being used to back into maly's napkin approach, and if so where would that leave the rest of the non-far area?
Posted by: invisible at November 3, 2009 12:04 PM
Try this as a basis:
Cost of designing and building typical 4-level 20 ft x 45 ft townhouse on 20 ft x 100 ft lot (which probably get you close to allowable FAR): 3,600 SF x $350/SF = $1,260,000
Likely selling price of house including land: $1,600,000
Land value: $1,600,000 - $1,260,000 = $340,000
Value of land per SF: $340,000 / 2,000 = $170/SF
As a cross check; assuming a R6B FAR of 2 (allowing a 4,000 SF building)the land value equates to $85 per buildable SF which seems about right in these days (though a far cry from the over $150 per buildable SF sites were fetching in the frothiest days of the bubble).
Posted by: johnife at November 3, 2009 12:30 PM
Definitely a back of the envelope calc, and although it seems like a large difference, in my experience it bears out, as perfectly fine houses with tiny backyards take forever and a day to sell. I have been looking at carriage houses, which I personally love for their rustic looks. Some end up without any backyard, or with less than 15 ft clearance, which inevitably lands them at the bottom of their relative value scale.
Posted by: Maly at November 3, 2009 12:38 PM
I don't understand the distinction between FAR and non-FAR area. My understanding is the formula determines the maximum allowable floor SQF of buidable home based on the SQF of the entire lot. What's left is still part of the equation and does not become non-far. You are trying to assign equal value to the remaining SQF but If the deepest lot has unused FAR (Buildings all being equal), that would make that land more valuable per SQF. This does not just apply to the Scaranos of the world doing teardowns. People do put additions onto their homes for many reasons and sometimes they even do it legally. If you want a expert opinion, ask an architect and give them the lot numbers.
Posted by: ou812 at November 3, 2009 2:22 PM
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