What kinds of home remodeling jobs increase the value of your home most for your investment?
When it comes to remodeling your home, it’s not just about the money that you sink into the project, but what kind of return you can expect to get on that investment.
The real remodeling disasters that you want to watch out for are the ones that are going to cost you big money now without an extra pot of gold waiting when you sell it at the end of the rainbow.
|
For example, turning your unfinished attic into an extra bedroom with its own bathroom and shower can cost upwards of $50,000, but most people earn back about 73% of what they spent when they later sell the home. Not too shabby, especially if you factor in that you’ll probably be getting several years of use out of that extra bedroom.
The real remodeling disasters that you want to watch out for are the ones that are going to cost you big money now without an extra pot of gold waiting when you sell it at the end of the rainbow. The following five remodels are projects that barely earned owners 50 percent back on the money they spent—and some earned back less than 50 percent!
Upscale garage addition. Having a nice new garage where you can keep your cars protected from the elements and store things away neatly without clutter that makes you look like a hoarder can seem like a great idea to homeowners. Unfortunately, statistics show that garage additions only earn their owners back 52.1% of the money they spend on the remodel. Worse, some of these cost upwards of $80,000!
Upscale master suite addition. Just like with the garage, redoing your master suite to make it feel high-class might seem like a no-brainer to get extra money back when you sell. The problem, however, is that most people tend to have very personal preferences regarding what they like in a master suite, and unless you just happen to find the perfect buyer, you’re likely to be out of luck. The average return on a master suite remodel was 50.5%. And the cost? A whopping average of over $225,000. You could buy a new house for that!
Backup power generator. Backing up your power is just practical, right? Homeowners who thought this learned the hard way that apparently buyers just aren’t buying in to generators. This one doesn’t cost as much as some of the others on this list—just under $15,000 on average – but the return is worse at 47.5%.
Sunroom addition. Some people really love the idea of a sunroom. Did anyone pick out the key word in that sentence? “Some.” Unfortunately, where buyers are concerned that ended up turning out to be “a few,” with people seeing less than a 46% return on their investment. And just how much is that investment? On average, sunrooms cost over $74,000.
Home-office remodels. This one probably comes as a surprise to a lot of you, because a home-office seems like a fairly standard desire that a lot of people have. Even people who don’t technically work from home often like to have a dedicated space where they can keep their business information. For whatever reason, though, this doesn’t translate into a high return rate on your investment. On average, homeowners spent just under $28,000 on home-office remodels and made back less than $12,000. That translates to a return of just 42.9%!
So, what kinds of remodels should you do to ensure that you’ll recoup your money when you sell? In general, you want to look for things that are broad in their appeal. Besides the aforementioned attic bedroom, other good returns on your investment include:
- Replacement windows and vinyl siding
- Remodeling your kitchen
- Adding a deck
- Replacing your garage door
What remodel has the highest cost-to-return value? One you probably never would have guessed: replacing your entry door with one made out of steel.
Read more Lifestyle on The Good Life.
Home remodeling project in progress image courtesy of Shutterstock
I always read things like this and wonder 2 things. What is the lot size (for these garage expansions) and what is the square footage of the houses in question. Around here 900-1000 square feet is the norm (on old houses) on small lots where a two garage means sacrificing a chunk of back yard. Vinyl siding doesn’t do exceptionally well in areas you have very cold winters and hot summers either. It always looks bad regardless of season in places like that. Anyhow, when ever I read things like this I never can identify because for the most part… Read more »
Why do you think the steel front door makes such a difference?
Most front doors are ugly, and have few if any lights. Swapping out a door is relatively cheap – both in materials and labor – and makes a big difference in terms of a first impression entering a home.
I had read that fiber cement siding was a better investment than vinyl, but perhaps that’s just for my area. Of course regional styles will dictate – vinyl doesn’t do so well in the desert southwest and would look out of place on cape cod where cedar shingles are standard.
This is a great piece!! I’m sort of surprised by the master suite addition note, however I can attest to the fact that a giant master suite won’t get you crap for resale compared to creating an extra bedroom…. At least in Southern California. If the house is less than 3000 sq ft you don’t need a giant room for your clothing or a meditation area. A 4th bedroom would do you so much more as far as resale value. We saw a house in the LA area yesterday that had two walk-in closets the size of the kitchen in… Read more »
I’ll be damned if I’m going to put vinyl siding on my house. 🙂 Then again, since I do all my own work I don’t need to worry about the return on my fiber cement siding, new wood double-hung windows, or even that new roof I put on. I’ve often wondered what the return on anything is, particularly if you’re starting from nothing. When I bought my house, I dinged the seller the cost of re-siding it because it had asphalt shingles over clapboard. Either way they would have had to pay; who knows, maybe instead of subtracting from my… Read more »