Mjlb, although making a property the most it can be is a super thing to do on the right property, this house's location in a "starter" subdivision puts it in a special category. I was a real estate appraiser for years. These neighborhoods typically have no advantage in location that would help values appreciate--usually quite the contrary--and have uniformly small, inexpensive structures built on them. Thus these neighborhoods in general can be expected to appreciate less than more desirable neighborhoods, often significantly so. For instance, the $15K price difference between this house and its closest competitive subdivision this decade may become $22K in the next little price run up, and $30K by before the end of the decade. If a real estate boom happened, $30K might well turn into $60K in a couple of years. People who remain in starter subdivisions often end up unable to move up as prices change but the houses just get older and less well maintained. That's the usual syndrome because, as people are earnestly telling you, the typical owners in starter neighborhoods most often save their money for the next home. They do not invest in improvements, but just keep them maintained well enough to sell. Most of those who leave sell what are now used homes to people who can't afford new ones. Other owners remain in the neighborhood because they are satisfied with their homes or because, as life turns out, they can't afford to leave after all. Some fix up their houses a bit, so they become standouts among the plain-jane landscaping around them, but others don't have the money to make noticeable changes. As for your remodel investment, no one will pay more for your improved home than for other properties for sale in the neighborhood. Those who have the money will put that extra $5K in a house in the slightly better subdivision across the boulevard. See where this goes? Since you're willing, even eager, to make the most of what you have, save your ambition and almost all your money for a neighborhood, old or fairly new, people are choosing for their destination, dream neighborhood, where they hope to live for many years. Above all, when looking at this house and for the next, think the old real estate principle of location, location, location. Whether you're buying to make money or to have beautiful tree-lined streets to take your morning strolls on, it's more important than the next 3 factors you can think of put together. Best wishes.

It depends on the contractor and the scope of work. If a GC is juggling multiple subs on differnt jobs all at the same time, every project will slow down. Ideally you want one contractor personally handling any specialized trade (such as plumbing) while dovetailing the sub into the work flow so there is no interruption. That's how we run our jobs. No job starts until we have all the materials in hand. One customer at a time, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. You'd be surprised how fast things get done when people show up on time every day. On a recent 6th floor condo full bath remodel we discovered the other owners had a betting pool on how long we would over run our 21 day working schedule. It was pretty amusing. We finished in 17 working days without damaging the hallways, blocking the garage, or hogging the elevator. The customer was thrilled and now we have a whole building full of new clients. Only on TV can you remodel a kitchen in 29 minutes with 2 commercial breaks. I never figured out how they paint the walls the same day they hang curtains and art work.

This is hard one. New home build has.. (small farmhouse) We have a pantry and a tall pantry cabinet too.. pantry has vaccum & brushes. We have a small hallway between rooms that has space for officey stuff, charging, counter for snacks for party.. but mostly printer and laptop support stuff.. upper cabinets. We have a dresser in the small main floor bath instead of closet. We have a shoe closet because we like Japan style. We have a large nice coat closet plus a simple mud room with hooks at another entrance and farm boots. we have a homeschool supply cabinet/a matching one for coat closet we have a linen closet/built in in the hallway upstairs that is actually a basecabinet with wood counter and a upper wall cabinet built in (like office hallway) we have a full linen closet outside of bathroom door on this level too sharing the upstairs vac/broom and cleaning supplies we have a shallow shelf with sliding doors in upstairs bath for small items but not a fan of cloth hanging out in the bathroom.. in hallway. interestingly we don't have closets for the kids yet. We want an easy layout with what we have with windows and doors.. vents.. going modern and growing with them style.. we have are farmers but we have a 4' wide door in BR with another 4' wide open curtain place for me.. I like tall dressers and need more places for folding, jeweler and underwear.. have nice pieces that do best folded.. hate closet systems, want light and pretty space instead. Velvet curtains ;) basment is full! We have a plan for dedicated and double checked (insects and others) but want true dressers indtead of tubs and wall stuff. Want to sew and love basement.. don't want walls covered.. want art and more fancy room stuff in basement. Going for dressers for Christmas, sweaters.. and sometimes buffet peices.. do not want a Rubbermaid look! I want to do something amazing with my basement too.. not sure exactly but more living room, play room, art studio with storage much lower than normal storage rooms. Also having a vac & broom in the have closet.

Thanks for all the replies. This is part of a larger remodel, and the current doors are really untenable. They interfere frequently with the entry - especially with the kids, and also the general morning melay. Since my husband and I split the closet 50/50, we don't need to see everything at once (he gets the left 4 ft, I have the right 4 ft). I was thinking floor/ceiling bypasses which would give us each access to our entire space. I'm not worried about horizontal access, just depth. I don't want our jacket sleeves constantly getting stuck in the closing door...