Mark Roemer Oakland Debates If Crown Molding Increases or Decreases the Value of Your Home
Introduction
According to Mark Roemer Oakland, when you make any improvement to your home, you need to do a lot of planning and budgeting. That’s when homeowners are forced to consider the benefit of the improvement and if that would add to the resale value of their home. Let’s check out if crown molding increases or decreases the value of your home.
The Debate
1. Crown molding – Molding and trim are used interchangeably when it comes to home improvement features. Crown molding refers to the crown of the room, the edge or border where the ceiling meets the walls. Apart from molding, similar decorative trims can also be used around the walls, windows, doors, and decorative ceilings.
In some cases, trims can also be used for practical purposes. For instance, if you have poorly lined DIY flooring, damage, or gaps in older homes with sinking floors and visible foundation problems, trims can be used to hide them effectively. However, in most cases, trims or crown molding are decorative features that are associated with luxury.
2. Cost of crown molding – the average cost of installing crown molding is around $5 to $8 per linear foot. That means if the walls and ceilings meet up to make around 100 feet, you’ll be paying anywhere between $500 and $800. However, that wouldn’t be the final cost if you need to add baseboards or tray ceilings to match the look.
Molding cost varies dramatically depending on how it’s installed, material cost, finishing, and more. The thickness and decorative factor also impact the cost quite heavily. For instance, if you really want to blow your budget, you can import materials from a historic castle and hire a molding expert for the job. To keep the costs as low as possible, it’s best to use trees from your own property, search for discounted materials and free pellets, and DIY it with your kids over several weekends.
3. Crown molding impact on appraised value – No matter what you’ve read or heard from other sources, adding crown molding is very unlikely to make any impact on the value of your home. Real estate appraisers don’t have a line item for trim or molding. That means, even if you get crown molding made from solid gold and mimic the palaces from fantasies, it wouldn’t add a single dime to the appraised value for your home.
This feature is purely decorative and no matter how much effort and money you put into it; you won’t get more money from a buyer who’s taking out a mortgage loan to buy your home. While crown molding adds to the appeal and makes your home beautiful, it’s a luxurious feature without any practicality and hence won’t cost more money.
Conclusion
Mark Roemer Oakland suggests that you think long and hard before adding crown molding to your home. While it can make your home look amazing and add to the perceived value, you may not get a penny more in the appraised value of your home.
