1. #1

    Anyone here work in property?

    So I'm looking at getting a new place and converting the largest room in the house into a library. Would it lower the value of the house at all or significantly if I was to do so?

    I'd have to bolt bookcases to the wall because they will be tall and if/when I leave that property I won't be taking them with me. I'm even thinking of knocking a wall through if it's necessary because I have several thousand books to house and unless I get lucky and find a property that's perfectly suited for it without any work being needed, I'll have to knock a wall through.

    I know there are some people that would love to buy a property with a library already installed, but those people are few and far between and then it comes down to location etc etc, so I don't know whether to do it or not or whether I'm going to have to just knock a wall through and have free standing bookcases that aren't as tall but taking up more space.

    It's been nagging me all evening and I thought I'd try and find some answers as it's 1 am and I can't really call a property place until the morning, assuming they're even open on Saturdays.

  2. #2
    The size of the house will be a big factor. Also doing work like taking out walls can run you lots of money too.

    Doing this is a 3 bedroom 2000 square foot house might hurt it a lot.

  3. #3
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    Why do you have 1000s of books.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by drwelfare View Post
    The size of the house will be a big factor. Also doing work like taking out walls can run you lots of money too.

    Doing this is a 3 bedroom 2000 square foot house might hurt it a lot.
    One I'm most interested in is 4900 sq ft floor space. It has a large garage that I might see if I could convert into an office and library which might solve it right away.

    Quote Originally Posted by Methanar View Post
    Why do you have 1000s of books.
    I like to read and I like to keep them for reference.

  5. #5
    Where do you live and is it one floor or two or two+basement, and how many bedrooms?

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by drwelfare View Post
    The size of the house will be a big factor. Also doing work like taking out walls can run you lots of money too.

    Doing this is a 3 bedroom 2000 square foot house might hurt it a lot.
    Adding/removing walls yourself is cheap, you just need to know how to do it and know what is and isn't structural. Obviously, you have to leave structural ones alone

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Blueobelisk View Post
    Where do you live and is it one floor or two or two+basement, and how many bedrooms?
    I'm in England but the house is in Canada. It's 2 storeys with 4 bedrooms. It has a fitness room and a cinema room that will get converted into something else eventually as well so that frees up two rooms.

  8. #8
    At 4900 sq ft I'm guessing there's at least 3 non-bedroom open areas (or 5+ bedrooms)? If so, turning one into a library shouldn't hurt much. If it just had one or two family/rec room type areas or 2-3 bedrooms that you were going to turn into one then maybe, but so long as the type of spaces you're going to use aren't too rare it shouldn't cause much if any hit in value. Even if it does though (I've done minimal work in this field, and hard to be sure without seeing the actual property and such, so obviously check with more experienced professionals in your area) I don't imagine it would be hard to take them down and patch up the holes before reselling. Assuming you make sure to attach them to studs and don't end up ripping large holes in the wall.

  9. #9
    This is quite hard to say without knowing more about the city. Realistically, it doesn't sound like it's terribly relevant to the value of the property, provided it's done well.

  10. #10
    Is it really worth it to you to have a contractor come out, charge you $20-25,000 to knock a wall out, put up new support, repaint, recarpet / wood tiles, install massive book cases, etc etc?

    Also have to factor in the fact that it's going to dramatically reduce the resale value of the house. After considering that, when you do end up selling the place, you'll be short $50,000 or more.
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  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by glo View Post
    Is it really worth it to you to have a contractor come out, charge you $20-25,000 to knock a wall out, put up new support, repaint, recarpet / wood tiles, install massive book cases, etc etc?

    Also have to factor in the fact that it's going to dramatically reduce the resale value of the house. After considering that, when you do end up selling the place, you'll be short $50,000 or more.
    Well it is in my opinion. My collection means a lot to me and I don't want to part with it or treat them badly. I had them all rebound with nice leathers bindings etc so I'm not just going to stack them up. If I lose 50k off of the value on resale then it would suck, but it's not the end of the world. I'd just like to avoid that if possible.

  12. #12
    4 bedrooms is great then, and you can run off your "library" as an office, just leave a little room against a wall where you don't install a bookshelf so it's possible to put a desk, and you might actually see the value appreciate.

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