Top 10 Remodling Projects For Your Money.

George ~  A great post.  I did a newsletter similar to this and sent it to all my past clients.  They loved it! 

This is great info to have. Thank you, George - I plan to pass this along to my clients.

George,

May I respectfully disagree?

Value doesn't work this way no matter what HGTV actors say!

Adding square footage may have very little return. No matter what you add to a house it's value is going to be limited by it's situs! You can up grade your home to look and be just like one down the street selling for hundreds of thousands more, but it's value is still limited by it's situs, it's neighborhood!

If you can live out the cost of that two story addition in a single story subdivision great. But, becoming the biggest house in the neighborhood adds just a little bit over the value of your most valuable neighbor! (It will force the neighbors to buy swim suits.)

Kitchens are only second to adding space, unless your going to use it let the new owner pick it out. Get some estimates, a rendering and a LO from McCue Mortgage to sit open house with you to explain how you can finance it all with one 203k loan.

They are all good projects, but unless your house is so currently a delapidated fixer don't kid yourself!

Numbers 1 and 2 are different! You can have the best house in town, but with out curb appeal few buyers may ever know.

It only takes a little knowledge about appraisals to know they just don't work this way! HGTV and it's actors repeat only what the story tellers write with little or no basics in realty.

I love to be a subscribe to your news letter.

Bill

Hi George-This is some neat stuff to look at.  When sellers are getting ready to sell, some will ask me if they need to do an overhaul on remodeling, and depending on what it is, I usually will tell them no.  At that point in the game, it's a bit late to remodel and regain your money back.  However, if home owners update throughout the time that they lived in the home, they will find their values increase depending on the remodel.

George sellers need to think of these improvements as tools to get their home sold.   I too was surprise about the return on the remodel of the front door.

George -- I was just discussing this with a client and told her 70% on the kitchen remodel. She, like many others, thought she would get a 100%+ return.  That door being 102% is very interesting. I'd like to reblog in a few days. Thanks!

Hi George - Great post.  People are always asking me if they will get their money back so now I have something to show them.  I usually tell them that they may not get all their money back but improvements will help them sell their homes (over not selling)!

George - I always say curb appeal is the most important investment.  Glad your chart agrees.  I also agree with Peggy, some improvements can make the difference between a home selling or not selling, but its tough to convince clients of that.  They can't imagine that their home wouldn't sell.

Great stuff, George.  These #'s make sense to me and jive with what I've seen in the past.  (On here, I've seen some #'s by stagers that have inflated #'s often because they are not based on real data, but on agent opinion on returns.

This is why it makes sense to do renovations like this years in advance of moving (e.g. 5) so that you reap the benefits and get a good portion in resale.

The bummber abt all these #'s is that they truely are renovation/remodel #'s.  I do wish they would publish ROI on some of the simpler/more straight forward projects such as refinishing your floors, painting, etc where it really does appear you get a large return on investment.

Finally I will say, that customers can see better returns on their investments if they think w/ the end in mind - find something they love and that will sell later.  One of the biggest issues I see w/ kitchen remodels is being taste specific - which often increases price and lowers impedes resale value.

This is a great report - I refer to if often in my seminars.  People can't take this information too literally - after all every house, market, neighborhood, etc. is different and a lot of factors come into play when determining home values and list prices. 

But you [and the article] make a great point - a dollar invested does NOT always = a dollar retuned.  I don't typically advise people to make major renovations in preparation for a sale.  But I do think homeowners should keep resale in mind when making renovations - even if they think they won't be selling any time soon.  

It's painful for some sellers to hear that their 3 bedroom raised ranch with it's newly remodelled $50,000 gormet kitchen is still a 3 bedroom raised ranch - there is a real danger in overimproving for your neighborhood. 

Great list of worthwhile improvements to any home... wouldn't it be nice if all homewoners would be able to them?!... just to be able to enjoy their home even more... and without having to worry about getting their money back when selling...

Great information to pass along George, I might re-blog this for  the benefit of my readers...

Interesting, George, the top three all have to do with curb appeal! Here in southern CA people seem to prefer a quality wood entry door.