Unlocking the Hidden Monetary Potential: An Addition to your Coral Gables Home - A Miami architect explains

Addition to existing Coral Gables House by United Architects, Inc.

If you own a house in Coral Gables and you are thinking of retiring and downsizing in a few years, this is the time to look at maximizing the price of your home. As a Miami architect with offices in Coral Gables, let me explain.

In Coral Gables, the median sale price of a house is $739/square foot.

Miami architect explains lucrative opportunity by adding square footage to the house

Here is the selling price per square foot of several areas in Coral Gables:

• Central Gables: $626 per square foot

• Coral Gables Section: $761 per square foot

• Granada: $866 per square foot

• Country Club Section: $1.1K per square foot

• Riviera: $983 per square foot

• Cocoplum: $1.5K per square foot

The price of construction in Coral Gables is about $350 per square foot. Of course, this can vary depending on the taste and wallet of the homeowner. But if we look again at the prices in the different areas, there is an opportunity to maximize the value of the property prior to selling it.

Let’s look at some examples.

On a 10,000 square foot lot (this would be 2 standard Coral Gables lots of 5,000 square feet), you can build 2,400 for the first 5000 square feet and another 1,750 for the second 5,000 square feet for a total allowable square footage of 4,150 square feet. This is the totality of all square footage on both floors.

The maximum lot coverage (footprint) for the main structure in Coral Gables is 35% of the lot. This would mean that the maximum lot coverage for a 10,000-square-foot lot is 3,500 S.F. This is the allowable square footage on the first floor or the second floor, depending on which is the larger one.

Example of single-story house

So, for the first example, let’s take a very typical house in Coral Gables of 2,050 S.F. on one floor and a double lot. You could build an additional 1,450 S.F. If we take the square foot value of a Riviera house at $983 per square foot and deduct the cost of construction at $350 per square foot, we get a profit of $633 per square foot. $633 x 1,450 = $917,850. And it means that instead of selling the same house for $2,015,150, it could sell for $3,440,500.

Example of single-story house with a partial second floor

Now, let’s take that same 2,050 S.F. house. You could add even more if you wanted to also add a piece that was on the 2nd floor. Remember, the maximum allowable square footage is 4,150 S.F. If we are already at the maximum on the ground floor of 3,500 S.F. because you already are planning to add the 1,450 S.F. on the ground floor, we can still add another 650 S.F. on the 2nd floor. At $633 per square foot that would be an additional $411,450 profit. That house with the maximum allowable square footage of 4,150 square feet could then sell for $4,079,450.

So, let’s recap. Instead of selling your present house with 2,050 S.F. at $983 per square foot for $2,015,150, you can sell the house with the additions for $4,079,450. Of that, $1,329,300 is the profit for all the work you put in the new construction. But think about it, you didn't even have to do a flip or buy another property. You did it all by staying put. All you need now is a good architect to start the process.

Call me

If this strategy is appealing to you, call me, Maria Luisa Castellanos, at 305-439-7898, an experienced architect dealing with Coral Gables additions and remodeling.