"soes a fireplace make much difference in the value of a home? "

yes

Re-sale value depends on your area & your price range;
here in Texas, although fireplaces are an extremely popular feature, many tract builders are omitting them to keep the price down, & first-time buyers are gobbling up those fireplace-less houses as fast as they can.

Also, if you're building in a "senior" type development, you'll find a buyer whether your home has a fireplace or not.

However, once the economy perks up, buyers will want those fireplaces, & you'll have to compete with builders who include them.

I'd put one in for 2 or 3 reasons at least:

1. Again, depending on your area, it will make your home sell faster even in a slow market.

2. A buyer who just has to have a fireplace is going to have to find a home that already has one or discount the price s/he offers on your home, since it's so much more expensive to install one in a house that's already finished.

3. If I wanted a fireplace (especially if I were 69 or 79), I'd install it & enjoy it!

If you are selling after a awful winter when folks have lost power and heat having a gas fireplace is going to be a plus.

I'm more curious why at your ages you would even want to tackle building a house when there are so many houses already on the market? seems to me it would be cheaper and a better use of your time to find something that is close to what you want and do the little bit extra to make it your dream home especially since you know you will be reselling it in the not so distant future.

Heck, if you are going through all the trouble to build a custom house, put in what YOU will enjoy!

We will soon be building a house in Texas. I'm 56 and DH is 63. We debated the fireplace issue endlessly and decided to delete it.

I don't like fireplaces and we've had them in every house and never used them. I grew to resent them because they took up otherwise useful space. Yes, I'm sure they are better for resale value. But I knew that if I put one in the new house I would either resent the loss of needed space or I would build the entire house large to compensate for the loss of space. So, with eyes wide open, we decided not to put in a fireplace.

The fireplace wall in our present house, is what sold us on this house. It's a beautiful light colored flagstone, with built in bookcases and cabinets on each side. Very nicely done, and is a great focal point. We use it several times during the winter. In the south, that's not too many, but, the atmosphere and coziness, is worth alot.
We had the option of a pre-fab, gas, fireplace in the new house, and nixed it. Nothing like the real thing.

Here, in NC, a gas FP will add about $3000 resale value for a medium priced home... per the appriasers.

I really appreciate all of your feed-back....it is an on-going discussion with us right now....along with many other ones. DH doesn't stress bulding but I certainly do, and it is only on paper yet!

Building a custom home that you plan to resell in a couple of years is a quick way to lose money. If you start customizing everything to your taste and ignoring resale value, it is a quick way to lose a lot of money.

Have you built a house before so you know what you're getting into? If you stress when building, why would you want to put yourself in this position at this point in your life? Why not buy an already built house, since especially with your husband being older, there's a higher probability that health issues could make it necessary to sell sooner rather than later?

Anne

What billl said.
I wouldn't buy a house without a gas fireplace.

Bill, that is a very general statement... real estate is very local as we all know.
My clients just built a new custom home here on Lake Norman for $450,000. it's fair market value is about $100,000 more than that...

Anne~~ To answer your question...yes, I personally have had two new homes built---but I was years younger then and single--and I did things "my way" ...DH also did this for a living...so nothing for him to build another one. I think that no matter what we look, at he is always critical of the build.

I also am thinking we need to buy a ready-built home...and we have looked at several. The small town (3,000) we are wanting to move to, doesn't have many houses on the market and what they do is either priced for more than we can build what we really want, or ones that need so much fixing that we would have way more in the house than it would be worth....how much fixing does a 30+ year old house need?..and then when you get into moving walls, new kitchen, replacing windows, electric, plumbing
etc., you still have an old house with tiny bedrooms and very limited closets that is over priced for the neighborhood..and still not able to get around in should one us be in a wheel-chair or walker.

In my heart, I feel that building is not what we should do...I'd rather spend money "living" and traveling than putting everything back into a house......but I may be fighting a losing battle with DH~~

billl~~
Fortunately this little town is near a nuclear plant and houses there do hold their value. With our prime lot location and a well built house, I believe we could hold our money together. DH is a retired architect/contractor of 55+ years and he can keep his finger on the costs. We will have a crew of Amish builders and they do a beautiful job...and put in a good days work for your dollar.

I really appreciate your thoughts...I guess the older I get the harder it is for me to make decisions~~

It isn't that you "can't" make money building a house, it is just that there are so many more ways to lose money doing it. :)

I completely understand that some people are willing to take on those risks to build their "dream home" but I just don't see much upside if you only plan to stay a couple of years. Unless DH is just sick of retirement and is looking for a project, I don't understand the appeal. Building a home is a major undertaking and will certainly end up consuming much of your time for a year or so. That is a pretty big commitment for something you view as short term housing.

phoggie,

I am the same age that you are. We finished building our house 3 years ago, and built it for many of the same reasons you plan to. Actually, I thought I'd go nuts if I had to go through another remodel/fixup with DH (a perfectionist), and further go crazy if I had to live the rest of my life hearing him complain about all of the things wrong with an older house that didn't have all of the latest energy efficient things that he had researched.

"I'd rather spend money "living" and traveling than putting everything back into a house. . ." As we progressed and did quite a few "while we're at its", we ended up putting our travel money into the house, and since we're STILL finishing up inside have not traveled very far afield. I love the house, the view, the location, and being in it, but I vacillate as to whether building was the right thing to do or not. Also, DH got diagnosed with a major health issue the day we were to clear the trees on the building site, and we had to deal with hospital issues in the middle of the build and pay someone else to do a lot of the work he had planned to do.

Tough decision/situation--I feel for you.

Anne

Here are some adjustments appraisers use around here. Regional differences need to be considered whe using these figures, especially acreage.

Additional GLAAG = $80 per SF
Additional GLABG = $50 per SF
Add'l Bedrooms = $2000 each
Full Baths = $3000
Half Baths = $1500
Fireplace = +/- $3000
Private Well or Septic $3000 to $5000 each
Decking = $1000 per 100 SF
Garage Stalls = $6000 per Stall
Acreage $2000 per Acre, or 50� per SF
Flood Zone = $20,000
Year of Construction = $800 per Year
Private Road = $5000 per 100 Running Ft
Quality of View = +/- $5000
Quality of Construction = +/- $10,000
Architectural Appeal = $15,000
Functional Utility = +/- $10,000

Anne, I hope your DH is better now...certainly was very bad timing for him to get ill (but there is never a good time).

"I" have not ruled out the Sr. Complex of duplexes (which would be about $60,000 less than we could build a new one)that are going to be built in the same city as my daughter...but it is not the "small town" that we would rather live in. But the lawn care and snow removal would be taken care of there...which neither of us can do any more...but we hire it done here also.

So many decisions to be made at this time of our lives.
Thanks for the support and well-wishes.

You have empathy here too. We are putting a lot of money into a house also. (a retirement community) My DH feels like he'll shrivel up and die if he doesn't make this move. He's been retired for a year and a half. He's "rested enough". I didn't get very far with my objections.