Home Renovations That Pay Back

Whether you’re putting your home up for sale or planning to live in it for the foreseeable future, you may be considering home renovations. When the time comes to sell, it will be valuable to know the home renovations that pay off and those that don’t.  Also, knowing which home renovations pay back may help you make better decisions on which renovations you choose to make now.

Earlier this year Remodeling Magazine came out with their 2015 COST VS VALUE REPORT. This annual report is highly regarded and referred to throughout the remodeling industry. They’ve put this information online in a format that can be sorted so that you can make best use of the information.

The Cost Vs Value Report compares average cost for 36 popular remodeling projects with the value those projects retain at resale in 102 U.S. markets.

Snapshot of the 2015 Cost Vs Value Report

As the 2015 Remodeling Cost vs. Value Report makes clear, large-scale jobs aren’t likely to return sellers their full cost. But there are improvements worth doing in anticipation of an upcoming sale.

In the article 2015 Remodeling Cost vs. Value: Less Is More, Stacey Moncrief of Realtor.org writes, “Simpler, lower-cost projects tend to return greater value.”  

For example, steel door replacement is the least expensive item on remodeling cost vs. value list yet offers the most payback. Other projects expected to top near 100 percent payback include: the midrange garage door replacement, the upscale garage door replacement, the midrange wood window replacement, and the minor kitchen remodel.  

The headline of an article written by Jim Gallagher at StLToday.com sums it up, Remodeling: The payback is in happiness, not home value.

He writes, “In a new study of 36 types of home improvements, only two raised the value of a St. Louis home by as much as the job cost. A mid-range kitchen remodel would just barely pay for itself. So will replacing windows with mid-priced wooden ones. Every other job was a money loser.”

While you need to resist the urge to over-renovate, if you do, you should prepare yourself to not take it personally when you don’t get out of a project what you put into it. Although you put your heart and soul into designing it, your dream master suite addition may fail to add a big boost to your home’s appeal. Ultimately, you should be happy in your home. If you make a major renovation that is highly customized to you, enjoy it. It might just take a little longer to find the perfect buyer who will love those same customizations. 

Want to purchase a home that doesn’t need any renovations? Or do you need help selling a home that could use renovations? Contact The Boehmer Team. Our real estate expertise and resources for contractors and handymen will help.  

Update: The day this blog was published the National Association of Realtors released their own 2015 Remodeling Impact Report. You can click the link to the 49 page report. We found that the data is similar to the Cost Vs. Value Report referred to above but thought we should share this newly available information.