Valuing Home Bowling Alleys & Bomb Shelters (if you have to)

How do Appraisers and Realtors account for a bowling alley in the basement?

Or some other unusual feature, like a helicopter landing pad, 10,000 gallon aquarium, basement basketball court, bomb shelter, soundproof music studio, or dozens of other unusual — and therefore hard to estimate — home features?

They don’t.

Huh??

Self-Cancelling Features

If it’s possible, the preferred strategy in such situations is to find another home that otherwise qualifies as a Comp (“Comparable Sold Property”), that also has the same unusual feature/amenity.

Once you have two homes that each have basement bowling alleys (or some such), the feature gets cancelled out.

Then, the remaining adjustments focus solely on where the two homes — the Comp and the subject property — differ.

Of course, the more unusual the feature really is, the less likely you are to find another property that has it.

P.S.: I personally know of exactly one home that has a basement bowling alley (or did): the White House.



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