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 course, 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 a dank, unfinished basement.

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

About the author

Ross Kaplan has 19+ years experience selling real estate all over the Twin Cities. He is also a 12-time consecutive "Super Real Estate Agent," as determined by Mpls. - St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business Magazine. Prior to becoming a Realtor, Ross was an attorney (corporate law), CPA, and entrepreneur. He holds an economics degree from Stanford.

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