Does driveway construction increase home value?

Hi Shane.

Welcome to the forum.

It may increase your home value to some extent as you have improved your house by constructing the driveway.

BTW are you going to sale the property? Is it a mortgaged property? If you are not selling the property then it will just help you to make parking :)

Feel free to ask if you have any further questions.

Best of luck,
Larry

Welcome Shane.

Property worth will increase as you have repaired the driveway but in comparison to the other properties in your neighborhood it will not increase more. What I mean to say is you property value will be same as the other properties in the neighboring area.

Hope I make it clear.

I also think if you plan on living there for a while and don't have a lot of money I might consider repair work over reconstruction. I don't think the value of your home is going to increase as much as it costs to have the driveway rebuilt.

In most cases it will not increase more than the cost to put the driveway in

Brian

would there be an expected increase of the property value if there is currently no drive and no access?

Hi matt,

The value of your property would increase only if you add something to your property or go in for some home improvements. If there is no drive or no access then, it won't increase the value of your property.

Take Care

I looked at a home recently that needed driveway repairs. It didnt affect the negotiation process as a must do. It didnt affect the value of the house. More important aspects were the electrical and mechanics for eg. septic, the roof etc. These significantly dropped the negotiated final sale price of the house. An updated home for eg. a new driveway etc. will always reap market value vs an unupdated home. A home with no updates will be negotiatated down!! Or else buyers will walk. Its always important to update your home even in the form of a new driveway. :lol:

brian knows whereof he speaks. the value of the property is not going to be elevated by the mere repair of a driveway.

Hmmm now there is a bigger question of functional utility and acceptance in the marketplace that may be overlooked here. They got rid of the garage and coverted it to a bedroom, we do not know the specifics other than the two bedroom apartment is now a three bedroom apartment. Do not automatically assume this is a net gain. The market may command a premium for two bedrooms with a garage versus three with no garage or vice a versa. How do we know, the facts are not presented to determine. The driveway may or may not increase the value depending on the specifics in the market. if the average home value were $20K in the area, it probably means nothing, if the average home value were $1,000,000 than the driveway best look perfect, it is relative to the variables in the market.

man o man...you have a different appelation for every topic, don't you "appraiser guy"?

i agree with your assessment, and still stick to my guns that the driveway doesn't mean much in the overall scheme of things. in my experience, it seems that a deprived driveway will have a greater impact than an improved one.

the question of value add's is a little more involved thn some people thing. a busted driveway for example will act as a deterent to buyers. Repairing it may not directly add to the value in any significant way, but it will remove a factor that would turn buyers off and also drive the price down. Likewise internal cosmetics like curtains etc.

It really depends on the extent of the damage and cost to fit it imho.

Which is pretty much what I said over 2 months ago, actually.