Literally The Narrowest Housing Insight Ever Provided (Hint: Valuing Outdoor Space)

Posted by Jonathan Miller - Thursday, September 6, 2012, 2:15 PM

In this week’s issue of New York Magazine, Jhoanna Robledo goes all out on the topic of outdoor space in city residences in “1/100th of an Acre of Heaven“. She asked me how our appraisal firm approaches the valuation of outdoor space.

The outcome of our conversation was this cool tape measure-like graphic:

[click to expand to - huge - widen your browser window.]

Page layout:

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And it brings to mind one of the most read posts on Matrix: Understanding The Value of Manhattan Apartment Outdoor Space where I break down the background and logic for the valuation of outdoor space. I point real estate agents to this post nearly every day.

Hypothetical examples of our valuation logic is displayed in these 2 crude sketches [pdf] with hypothetical scenarios I submitted for this NY Mag piece that weren’t used (hey, I never took art in school, EVER). It’s part of my attempt to compartmentalize amenities of properties to derive a reasonable value relationship with the basic property.

First hypothetical scenario sketch – i.e. a Brownstone garden apartment.

Second hypothetical scenario sketch – i.e. a studio apartment with an oversized yard.

1/100th of an Acre of Heaven [New York Magazine]
Terra Logic: Understanding The Value of Manhattan Apartment Outdoor Space [Matrix]