Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not much at all, especially in that price range. It just doesn't appeal to many people, and the technology gets outdated so quickly.

I agree but it depends where this house is. My house is worth $1.3 million in Bethesda and we'd have to give up the entire basement family room to get something even approaching a home theatre. It would definitely devalue the house because there isn't that much space to spare. But if it's a $1.3 million house in the exburbs with plenty of space then maybe it's a fine use of space. I still don't think you make anything back on it.

And also agree on the technology. We did a reno 5 years ago and put in wiring for speakers, etc and it was literally obsolete before the reno was done.

I think home theaters are tacky but other people like them.

Doubt your home in bethesda is worth 1.3 million if a home theater would take up your basement, unless you have a lot of land.

I will alert the neighbors. For some reason people are willing to pay $ to be close to DC and in the Whitman district even if the houses aren't mcmansions. I don't know anyone in our neighborhood with a home theater. But the houses sell within a week for $1.1m+.

Cool story bro. you stated that if you built a home theater it would take up your entire basement.

http://www.redfin.com/real-estate#!sold_within_days=180&v=8&sst=&lat=38.95523156343617&long=-77.1152256872582&zoomLevel=15®ion_id=119943®ion_type=7&market=dc

Zero

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not much at all, especially in that price range. It just doesn't appeal to many people, and the technology gets outdated so quickly.

I agree but it depends where this house is. My house is worth $1.3 million in Bethesda and we'd have to give up the entire basement family room to get something even approaching a home theatre. It would definitely devalue the house because there isn't that much space to spare. But if it's a $1.3 million house in the exburbs with plenty of space then maybe it's a fine use of space. I still don't think you make anything back on it.

And also agree on the technology. We did a reno 5 years ago and put in wiring for speakers, etc and it was literally obsolete before the reno was done.

I think home theaters are tacky but other people like them.

Doubt your home in bethesda is worth 1.3 million if a home theater would take up your basement, unless you have a lot of land.

I will alert the neighbors. For some reason people are willing to pay $ to be close to DC and in the Whitman district even if the houses aren't mcmansions. I don't know anyone in our neighborhood with a home theater. But the houses sell within a week for $1.1m+.

What's laughable is that everyone thinks their home theater is state of the art.

I am one of the PP who built a new home without a home theater. I've been there done that and most home theaters I've toured are pretty shitty.

People don't understand how much time and effort it takes to build a truly good home theater system. Just a good subwoofer system will set you back $2-$4k. Next time you go into a home theater, find the subwoofer. If you can't find a monstrous cube or tube in the corner somewhere, and the words "infinite baffle" draws a blank stare from the owner, that means the system is shit. There are some good built-in subs that can be integrated into the walls of a home theater as a permanent part, but I've only seen these in home theaters that cost six figures to build. I am not talking about in-wall subwoofers, but a pre-constructed subwoofer module the size of a coffin.

And that's just the subwoofer.

Most consumer grade projectors are also laughably poor in video performance, with poor contrast and black/white levels. Projected onto your average screen, the whole thing is a blurry dull mess compared to even an average LCD TV.

We are putting one in our new home, but DH and I watch movies - either the two of us or with family and friends - all the time. The biggest cost was not in actually building out the space, but the wiring and the A/V equipment. The wiring for that room was about $4k. The A/V equipment can vary depending on a number of things.

Anonymous wrote:I agree. Might be like a swimming pool. Some buyers will like it and some would appreciate the extra space for something else besides a theater. I wouldn't put one in just to try to increase the value.

+1. DH and I don't watch much tv and I watch maybe one movie a year. To me a home theater would be wasted space and not something I would pay a premium for. By contrast, I have a colleague who is a huge movie buff, and according to her, she and her husband watch a movie almost every night of the week. They might love it.

If the house is big and enough once you have all the other rooms what's wrong with adding a home theater?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not much. Technology ages quickly and what may have been state of the art 3 years ago is now outdated. I would guess you would get 25% to 35% return on your investment.

Put it in if this is something which is important to you and you will enjoy.

The best return on investments are bathrooms and kitchens.

news flash, you can get new technology but you can't create a new room that easily. If you have the space by all means go for it. If you are in a smaller home then don't do it and multi-purpose another room.

But they aren't building a room. The space exists -- it is just how you use it. There's a big difference between a large room and a room which has been tricked out in home theater equipment. They want to know if putting the money in a home theater is going to translate to big bucks for them when they decide to move. Probably not.

I'd prefer the skating rink, swimming pool, or real theater/stage idea (now that would be really cool). Having a home theater is admitting that you are a huge couch potato loser.

Anonymous wrote:Not much. Technology ages quickly and what may have been state of the art 3 years ago is now outdated. I would guess you would get 25% to 35% return on your investment.

Put it in if this is something which is important to you and you will enjoy.

The best return on investments are bathrooms and kitchens.

news flash, you can get new technology but you can't create a new room that easily. If you have the space by all means go for it. If you are in a smaller home then don't do it and multi-purpose another room.

Not much. Technology ages quickly and what may have been state of the art 3 years ago is now outdated. I would guess you would get 25% to 35% return on your investment.

Put it in if this is something which is important to you and you will enjoy.

The best return on investments are bathrooms and kitchens.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think home theatre rooms are a frivolous fad of the 2000's. I think PP mentioned this. I was driving by a new $4m (sold) house today, and noticed the home theatre company installing something.

I suppose it could be a home theatre, and I suppose at $4m wasted space doesn't really matter, but I thought how foolish. If they are smart, it is something else entirely, but one doesn't really need to hire anyone to have formal audio/video accoutrements these days do they? We do everything ourselves, as far as hooking up sophisticated technology. I guess I thought everyone did this.

I'm guessing most people buying a 4M dollar house don't do many things themselves.

We do.

I would love to avoid going to the movies and watch them at home, but home releases lag. I wish they would just let you buy them at home.

$0. I never really liked them. Neighbors had one and they used the adjacent family tv room way more often. The theater was hardly ever used once the newness wore off.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not much at all, especially in that price range. It just doesn't appeal to many people, and the technology gets outdated so quickly.

I agree but it depends where this house is. My house is worth $1.3 million in Bethesda and we'd have to give up the entire basement family room to get something even approaching a home theatre. It would definitely devalue the house because there isn't that much space to spare. But if it's a $1.3 million house in the exburbs with plenty of space then maybe it's a fine use of space. I still don't think you make anything back on it.

And also agree on the technology. We did a reno 5 years ago and put in wiring for speakers, etc and it was literally obsolete before the reno was done.

I think home theaters are tacky but other people like them.

Doubt your home in bethesda is worth 1.3 million if a home theater would take up your basement, unless you have a lot of land.