Home Remodeling Projects that Add Value

Stay within Bounds of your Neighborhood

When contemplating a major home remodeling project it is wise to make sure your investment doesn’t price your home (at least on paper) way above the average home price in the neighborhood that it is located in. If it does, don’t expect to ever be able to sell your home for this price. You may want to talk to a local real estate agent to give you an idea of what the top end price would be for a house to sell in your neighborhood. You can then compare this figure with the cost of your home remodeling project to see if it makes sense to do.

Best Home Remodeling Projects that Add Value Of all the home remodeling projects to consider, kitchen and bathroom remodeling projects have the highest return on investment, or at least the potential for it. Every prospective home buyer loves to walk into a home and see a modern and clean bathroom or kitchen, with all the state-of-the-art appliances and/or fixtures. For example, a remodeled kitchen that includes hardwood kitchen cabinets, granite countertops, new flooring, and stainless steel appliances is highly sought after by home buyers.

Smaller Home Construction Projects

Home offices, finished attics and basements are all great home remodeling projects. However, they don’t necessarily provide the greatest returns on investments. This is not to say you shouldn’t move forward with one or more of these projects. If they provide great utility to you and your family then proceed. Just beware that you may never recoup all your costs for building them, at least in the short run. If you, however, hold onto the home long enough and sell it in a hot market you could very well make money on these types of projects.

Other home remodeling projects that can be enjoyable for you and your family, but not necessarily positive for your long term finances, are saunas, pools, bars and home theaters. If you’re not worried about real estate values, however, and feel like you want to enjoy one or more of these types of living spaces, then by all means build them.

Exterior House Projects Decks and fences can help to provide outdoor living space, however they notoriously don’t provide a phenomenally high return on investment (ROI). The average ROI on a deck or fence home remodeling project is around 80-90%. Landscaping is another expensive exterior home remodeling project. However, a well landscaped yard can make all the difference in a house selling or not. Consequently investing money into landscaping is usually a good thing. Smaller Home Remodeling Projects that Add Value to Your Home If your home is in need of a paint job, then by all means paint the house. A fresh paint job, on the inside or the outside of the home, can make your house much more presentable to sell.

A simple paint job can go a long way in adding value to your home and enabling you to command a higher sale price for it. When painting your home to sell, always go with neutral paint colors. Most home buyers can accept, and live with, a neutral paint color over a loud and obnoxious one.

Similarly if there are lighting and plumbing fixtures that are looking old, faded and shabby replace them. Most of these types of projects are DIY projects that cost little to do. Albeit you may need to spend a little money for the appliances and/or fixtures, but they can pay off in spades in enabling you to sell your home fast.

Likewise if your home’s windows are old, poor insulators, and are not working properly spend the money in replacement windows. They’ll save on home energy costs and make the home much more appealing to future home buyers.