Hello everyone and Welcome to another

episode of Selling Greenville your

favorite real estate podcast here in

Greenville, South Carolina, I'm your host

as always Stan McCune realtor right here

in Greenville and because I'm a realtor

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today I want to discuss something

that has come up a lot of times over the

years and it's something that really

kind of caught my attention recently is

like you know what I need to better

understand kind of what's Happening Here

and it is something we've talked about

in passing a little bit

but there are multiple layers to it

and it's a the two two-tiered issue that

that you guys probably see if you're

looking to buy or looking to sell you're

gonna run into this as you're looking at

homes that are being sold and that is a

two-fold thing as I've already alluded

to one is that larger homes tend to sell

for a a lower price per square foot than

smaller homes do we've talked about that

a bit before

but the other is that multi-story

homes tend to sell for less of a price

per square foot than single story

ranches do and that's something that we

haven't discussed very much and that's

something that I'd like to discuss in

this episode to kind of give you guys a

little bit of a peek behind the veil of

how the sausage is made in real estate

right to use that corporate phrase

right there

what exactly is happening that's

causing these different

things to to happen why would larger

homes sell for a smaller price per

square foot why would two-story homes

sell for less than one-story homes why

are these types of things happening

and so I I did a study not unlike

other studies that I've done in the past

for this show what I did was I I looked

at three different neighborhoods and I

always like to choose production built

subdivisions when doing a study like

this and the and the reason is very

simple a production-built neighborhood

is going to have homes that are very

comparable right homes that were all

built around the same time they look

roughly the same they have roughly the

same features roughly the same upgrades

all of those things there's not going to

be huge variances from one production

built home to another as long as it's

not a a luxury Community obviously there

are some production built luxury

communities out there that there is a

great variety but we're talking about

more of the middle of the road

type of production built communities

that are between typically two to four

hundred thousand dollars those homes are

typically going to be going to to look

and be very similar to each other and

and so that takes out a lot of the

possible confounding results that could

come out of a study like this I want to

get rid of all of those confoundings as

much as possible and just analyze one

variable against another okay and so

what I did was I took three production

built communities in three different

cities I believe they're in three

different cities

and I don't know let me double check

that one was in Piedmont one was in

Greer

and one was in Woodruff so yes in in

three different cities three very

different cities

and I basically just analyzed all of the

solds from the past 12 months in those

communities these are communities that

have a number of one level homes a

number of multi-level homes and a number

of homes that have the master bedroom on

Main and the master bedroom on the

second level and then I just kind of

looked at okay what's going on in these

communities between these two groups

I've got my spreadsheets that you guys

can look at if you're watching on

YouTube so I'm going to share those real

quick and I don't want to hear any of

y'all complaining that you don't like

what my spreadsheet looks like you guys

aren't that's not a problem that I

typically have with you guys

but that is something that that I

I always want to be aware of as well

because I'm sure I've got some people on

here that listening that are better at

spreadsheets than I am don't don't

hate on on the way I do my

spreadsheets

we're going to start with jumping

right in here with the neighborhood

Dogwood Ridge in Piedmont this is a

neighborhood that the past year is

selling on average in the 300 to

330,000 range so to give you an idea of the

type of neighborhood that is just based

on the price point that's the price

point that we're talking about here what

I did was I have two tabs for Dogwood if

you're looking on YouTube you see

Dogwood Ridge Maine and Dogwood Ridge

second you'll see that for a few other

neighborhoods here main means that the

master bedroom is on Main and second

means that the master bedroom is on the

second level here's why I had to do that

most of these neighborhoods that we're

looking at basically most these

production built neighborhoods they do

they do it this way they have single

level homes and they have multi-level

homes usually two two-story homes and

the two-story homes usually have the

master bedroom on the second level and

the single story home obviously had the

master bedroom on the main level and

there are some neighborhoods that will

also have two-story floor plans that

allow for the master to be on Main as

well

we'll get to that in a little bit in the

case of Dogwood Ridge it's one or the

other you either have a two-story home

with the mass with all the bedrooms

including the master on the second level

well I shouldn't say all the bedrooms at

the very least the Masters on the second

level

or you can just get a a one story

home in which everything is just on one

level

and so let's look right into the data on

Dogwood Ridge what's happening for these

homes so let's start with the single

story homes these are the homes that

have just everything on one level

on average these are selling for 301

666 dollars

on average and I didn't do medians for

this median I felt like average was more

helpful we've talked about this in the

past sometimes media is more helpful

than average in this case there's not

huge fluctuations between the bottom and

the top sold price so we're going with

averages right around 300 000 with an

average square foot of

1681 square feet that comes out to a

price per square foot of just a hair

below 180 a square foot so basically the

one story homes in Dogwood Ridge are

selling for right around 180 dollars a

square foot now you notice as I've

already mentioned if you're looking at

this on at my spreadsheet on YouTube the

smaller homes are selling for a higher

price per square foot so we've got the

highest price per square foot on here is

193 dollars a square foot that's a

1559 square foot house that's the

smallest house listed on here whereas

all the homes that are 1700 square

feet and above are all well below that

they're all in the hundred seventy

dollars per square foot so let's just

discuss that for just one second I'm not

going to get two in the Weeds on this

specific point because we've talked

about this before but for those that

haven't heard those episodes here's

what's happening there Dogwood Ridge

this neighborhood basically if you're

gonna move there you're going to pay

at a certain minimum and it really

doesn't matter how small the home is

people are going to pay a certain price

to go there to get a brand new home and

so even if you're surrendering a couple

hundred square feet

where does that couple hundred square

feet ultimately end up right it ends up

in a few bedrooms being a little bit

bigger maybe a few closets maybe a

bathroom being bigger in some cases

you know the living room might be a

little bit larger that that 200 extra

square feet

doesn't

usually make a substantial difference to

the actual house itself outside of just

making specific spaces a little bit

bigger so the value of just making

specific spaces slightly larger isn't

that great and so what happens is those

smaller homes that have a little bit

smaller bedrooms a little bit smaller

living rooms and whatnot they're selling

for less money than the larger homes are

but not a but not less per square foot

it still ends up being more per square

foot because people are still willing to

pay a minimum amount at some level for a

brand new home in this neighborhood or

for any home in that neighborhood this

this was a neighborhood that had some

new construction in it that that came

through on some of these comps that I

ran and so that's why I've mentioned

brand new construction this is true of

any neighbors you go to any neighborhood

and there will be a bottom price whereby

that neighborhood people are going to

buy it no matter matter the size that's

what we're running into when we look at

this data all right so with that out of

the way the single story homes selling

with the master on the main level

selling for basically a hundred eighty

dollars a square foot what about the

two-story homes okay now remember the

the one story homes we're selling for

300 basically 300 000 a tick above three

hundred thousand what about the

two-story homes these homes are way

bigger okay so we were just talking

about homes that were sixteen hundred

sixteen eighty one square feet on

average now the two-story homes on

average are 24 89 square feet so

basically 2500 square feet on average

you think well so the difference in

price between a 16 80 square

foot home and a 2490 square foot home is

gonna be a huge difference right no it's

not as a matter of fact the difference

is basically a $30,000 difference

so these homes that average

2489 square feet only sold for three

hundred thirty two thousand dollars and

change that's only a tick above 30 000

more than the one story homes that we

just looked at and the price per square

foot goes all the way from

179.90 which is what it was basically

180,000 all the way down to 134 and 45

cents so basically 134 and a half so a

huge huge difference in the price per

square foot you're paying much less per

square foot if you're buying that

two-story home than if you're buying a

single story home

so what does that tell me if you're a

seller at least in this community in

Dogwood Ridge you're selling a two-story

home you can't just look at the price

per square foot at the end of the day

same thing if you're selling a one-story

home there's a bigger picture here

there's one story homes are much more

valuable than the two-story homes from

the standpoint of price per square foot

there's a lot of reasons for that okay

people like to have that master bedroom

on the main level and there are tons of

reasons for that a lot of people just

don't want the stairs some people can't

do the stairs like like older people

I've had clients that they don't want

stairs because of their their dogs their

dogs are getting old

they don't want stairs because of

their children they don't want their

children tripping up and down stairs

they don't need that extra square

footage there's all sorts of different

reasons why that happens also in a lot

of these two-story modern two-story

homes they have a loft that a lot of

people don't end up using so a lot of

Lofts end up as kind of like wasted

space so it's wasted square footage in

in a lot of ways and so

all of these things factor in to

those single story homes ultimately

selling for a higher price in this case

a dramatically higher price per square

foot than the second story homes

and so but that's just one

neighborhood right we looked I looked at

three different neighborhoods just to

give a good sample size and and in three

different cities I could have kept going

and kept doing this in a bunch of of

different neighborhoods I'm sure we

would have found an outlier somewhere

but this data is going to remain

consistent no matter where we look let's

look at next up the neighborhood

Brookside farms in Greer this

neighborhood if we look at the homes

that are one story with the master on

Main level these homes on average are

1741 square feet and they're selling for

three hundred thirteen thousand eight

hundred so basically three hundred

fourteen thousand very similar numbers

actually to what we just looked at with

a price per square foot of 180 075 okay

well let's look at the two-story homes

that we have in this neighborhood the

two-story homes again very similar

numbers a little bit higher on the

square footage and the sold price so

this one is twenty five hundred twelve

average square feet

and with an average sold price of 350

265 with an average price per square

foot of a $141

so again almost a $40 price per

square foot spread between the one story

homes in Brookside farms and the

two-story homes on Brookside Farms so

again if you're looking at selling

if you have a two-story home you're not

going to get the same price per square

foot if you're looking to buy

and you're okay with having a two-story

home as opposed to a one story you'll

get much better value getting that

two-story home but just understand that

if you're then looking to sell in a few

years you're not going to it's not going

to go up in value at the same rate that

the one story homes are it's just not

there's not as much value to that

two-story home as there is to the one

story home in terms of the price per

square foot now obviously it's still

more valuable right $350,000

on average as opposed to 313 dollars on

average because they're just so much

bigger we're talking about a difference

of what almost 800 square feet

difference but only a difference of

about 30 what thirty seven thousand

dollars

so to get 800 square feet 800 extra

square feet for only 37,000 I mean there

are some I've seen homes I've shared

homes in the Greenville Spartanburg

Anderson all the Pickens all these

counties around here I've shown homes

that are 800 square feet you can't buy

an 800 square foot home that's livable

for thirty seven thousand dollars but

you can buy a home that has 37 I'm sorry

that has 800 more square feet for

only thirty seven thousand dollars more

than the home that was 800 square feet

smaller that's a very telling number

and again that's just the value of what

we're seeing right now people value

those one level homes on on a much

greater level than they do those

two-story homes

let's look at another neighborhood our

final neighborhood and we're going to

break this down even a little bit more

because I feel like that that will

will bring in another important data

point here this is the neighborhood has

a weird name but it really had a good

sample size and in my opinion of of

data Anderson Grant which is in the

Woodruff, South Carolina area Woodruff if

you don't know is in Spartanburg County

it's a pretty rapidly growing area so

there's a downtown Woodruff that's not

really rapidly growing but then the

suburbs of Woodruff really are and

there's a variety of reasons for that

but in Anderson Grant you've got all

the homes that have the master on

Main came in at rate basically right at

335 thousand dollars as in average sold

price now here's what's different about

this neighborhood than the previous ones

we've looked at

in this neighborhood there are homes

with a master on Main that

are just normal standard ranches like

we've looked at for the previous two

homes but they also have two-story homes

in this neighborhood with a master on

Main so that's super helpful so what

we're what we're looking at right now is

these are all the homes with a master on

Main regardless of whether they are

whether they're a two-story house or a

one-story home on average because it's a

mix of the two these homes are 2028

square feet so larger than than the

on average one level homes that we've

been looking at and then it comes out to

a price per square foot of a hundred and

sixty seven dollars per square foot

and if you're looking at the data you

can see that it ranges from the 180s all

the way to the to the 140s per square

foot and this corresponds precisely to

the size of the home the largest home

the largest homes sorry actually one $132

a square foot was the

smallest number on here and that was the

largest home it was a 3 000 square foot

home where as opposed to a

1559 square foot home sold for

the highest number on here I believe if

I'm just eyeballing this which was 182

dollars a square foot so the difference

here's what's crazy the difference in

sold price between 100

1559 square foot one level home and I

know that this is the one level home

because I looked at this earlier as

opposed to a 3 000 nearly double square

foot home the difference in price was

from 285 to 399 only a hundred twenty

five dollar difference so you would

think it would be again intuitively the

price would be double right it's twice

the size basically but it's nowhere near

double it's the difference from 285

thousand dollars to four hundred

thousand dollars

so again reinforcing what we've

already talked about

so but taking the entire average it

was 335 000 for 2028 square feet with a

price per square foot of 167.32 so does

what does the pattern that we've been

talking about hold up for homes where

the master is on the second level

yes it does the homes where the master

is on the second level they only sell

for a little bit more on average 340

000 but the total finish square feet

is a lot bigger it's almost 2 600 20

2590 square feet with a price per square

foot of only a hundred thirty two

dollars a square foot so a huge drop off

let's break this down one more time

and this will really solidify it so what

I then did was I broke this out for this

neighborhood homes that have the master

on the main level but these are only

two-story homes okay these homes on

average were smaller than than the

average Second Story home that had a

master on the second level

these homes on average were

2469 square feet so you'll remember the

homes that have the master on the second

level on average for

2590 square feet and those homes cost

340 000 on average well these homes that

are smaller but have the master on the

main level costs on average 383

000 with a price per square foot of 156

and change close to 157 dollars per

square foot on average here we go this

is the value of having a master bedroom

on the main level and this is the thing

that a lot of people don't understand

when they're looking at comps there is a

huge huge value for the master bedroom

all else being equal being on the main

level in this neighborhood in the

Anderson Grant neighborhood that

difference is the difference of

basically 25 a square foot

in terms of price point it's a

difference of about 45,000

on average for for the sold for for

the for the sold price for the home even

though those homes are on average

smaller than the homes that were looking

at that had the the master bedroom on

the second level so the master bedroom

being on the main level gives you a ton

of value to your home if you're building

a home you must if you're concerned at

all about your resale value you must put

the master on Main I've heard this so

many times in my career the master on

Main is such a huge value add I never

fully broke down the data to fully

understand just how much value it is

but we can see it over and over again

because ultimately in those other

neighborhoods that we looked at where

the ranches were selling for a higher

price per square foot than the two-story

homes were a huge portion of that value

was simply the fact that the master

bedroom was on the main level and this

Anderson Grant neighborhood we can see

it very clearly because we saw

having the the one level home sold for

or sorry the homes that had

just a master on Maine in general sold

for 167 a square foot but the homes that

had the master on Maine that were two

level sold for just a little bit below

that on average 150 basically 150 57

a square foot and then those homes that

just had the master on the second level

132 dollars a square foot so this is

something to really keep in mind again

things to consider when you're buying

things to consider when you're selling

larger homes sell for a lower price per

square foot than smaller homes do there

is a level at which the price per square

foot you're gonna reach that bottom and

you're gonna reach it pretty soon when

you're in a production built

neighborhood

but then that master bedroom being on

the main level huge huge value add in

this example in this neighborhood and I

bet this that this holds up pretty

consistently across the board obviously

I had to cut off where I did my data but

rough roughly 20 to 25 dollars a square

foot extra to the entire home just by

virtue of having that Master on the main

level now if you're looking to sell and

you don't have the master on the main

level don't despair it doesn't mean that

you're you're not going to

to be able to sell your home you just

have to understand you can't compare

your home to other homes that have the

master on Main level you have to reduce

the price now what's good in terms of

this is I don't know any appraisers

there might be some out there but I

don't know any appraisers that give a

ton of value to the master bedroom being

on the main level as opposed to being on

the second level for a two-story home

so I think that's really important

um I I there are probably some

appraisers out there that go to that

granular of a level

um but I I think that that's more the

exception than the rule so if somehow if

you're able to find the perfect buyer to

find to to purchase your home that's

a two-story home and does have the

master on the second level

um you I don't think you need to be too

concerned about an appraiser coming in

there if you're selling for you know for

more than you expected to for an

appraiser to inherently dock you but

they are going to be comparing your home

to other two-story homes what I don't

think they're going to be doing

necessarily I think most of them are not

going to be comparing your home

inherently to other two-story homes that

have a master bedroom on the main level

so you could in theory benefit if you're

in a neighborhood that has two-story

homes with the master on the main level

but yours is on the second level you

could benefit on the appraisal side of

things that appraisers might not take

that into consideration but the market

will take it into consideration the

market is looking at that they're

putting a lot more value in these homes

where the the master bedroom is on the

main level and so you just need to be

prepared for that I hope that was

helpful information for you guys let me

know if you have any questions about any

of this or any feedback you'd like to

share my contact information is in the

show notes reach out to me anytime if

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