How Valuable is Having an Upstairs Laundry?

Upstair laundry: if there’s a window (right) . . . you know it’s not in the basement.

Calculating Premiums & Discounts in a Comparative Market Analysis (“CMA”)

How much value do Realtors and Appraisers assign to an upstairs Laundry when estimating a home’s fair market value?

The honest answer is, I’ve never seen it broken out as a specific adjustment, with a corresponding price tag (or even range) assigned to it.

That’s true even though MLS has a “Special Search” field for “2nd Floor Laundry” (photo, below left).

My gut says there are two reasons for that: 1) an upstairs Laundry is too small an item — perhaps $10k**, vs. $50k – $100k for an updated Kitchen (or not); and 2) it’s captured in a broader category.

Subsumed

For example, new $1.5 million homes with over 4,000 square feet in Edina typically have four (or more) Bedrooms up, including a large Owner’s Suite; en suite Bathrooms for the other Bedrooms; AND an upstairs Laundry.

“Special Search” field on MLS.

It’s sort of a package deal.

By contrast, 1930’s and 1940’s Colonials near Lake Calhoun and Cedar Lake may not even have a master Bath — never mind the upstairs Laundry.

So, the adjustment is $50k – $75k for no Owner’s Suite and a small hall Bath — not $10k for no upstairs Laundry.

Make sense??

**Of there, there’s another way to assign a value to an upstairs Laundry: the estimated cost to put one in.

If there’s existing plumbing nearby, and a walk-in closet that can be converted, the cost is lower; absent those things . . . (a lot) more.

There’s also the qualitative, lifestyle value to having an upstairs Laundry, especially if the family has young kids and the existing Laundry is in an old(er), unfinished basement.

See also, “How Appraisers Account for a Bowling Alley in the Basement (Ideally).”



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