So you’ve decided to hunker down for the winter, and you’re only going outside for work, groceries and trips to your favorite hardware store. That’s right – you’ve decided, “To heck with trying to sell our house right now. Let’s fix it up and sell it when the market is better.”
Your wife wants new appliances or a master bath suite that rivals that of a room at the ‘W’. Your kids want you to tear out the crab grass, lay down sod and put up a big toy that the school district will want to lease time on. And you, bless your heart, want to try and make some money on the home with the projects you’re about to undertake. The wife and kids I can’t help you with, but knowing what to do with your equity is something that I can help with.
Now before I get too far into telling you what to do, I need to tell you that I’m not telling you what to do. What I’m about to tell you comes from data that was compiled by one company, estimated by another, and the data itself – derived from Realtors – not a group of people necessarily know for keeping track of how clients find them, let alone the intricate details of cost to value comparisons for remodeled homes.
The first thing I’ll tell you is that we may be able to consider ourselves very fortunate on the west coast when it comes to recouping the costs of our remodeling projects. According to RemodelingOnline’s, 2007 Cost vs. Value Report, the Pacific region is the only region that can say that doing something – at least the right something – can add value to your home when you sell it. All other regions in the US are not currently realizing the value of updating or upgrading their home. So what are the home improvement projects that may – and I stress may – have a positive net effect?
Deck Addition
Adding a 16-by-20-foot deck using pressure-treated joists, posts, and deck boards including a built-in bench and planter with a complete railing system can return your investment to the tune of 108%.
Minor Kitchen Remodel
The report describes a minor kitchen remodel as such. In a functional but dated 200-square-foot kitchen with 30 linear feet of cabinetry and countertops, leave cabinet boxes in place but replace fronts with new raised-panel wood doors and drawers, including new hardware. Replace wall oven and cooktop with new energy-efficient models. Replace laminate countertops; install mid-priced sink and faucet. Repaint trim, add wall covering, and remove and replace resilient flooring. If done well, you may be able to see a return of over 103%.
Window Replacement
If you were to replace 10 existing 3-by-5-foot double-hung windows with insulated wood replacement windows, exterior clad in vinyl or aluminum and wrap existing exterior trim as required to match, making sure not to disturb existing interior trim, you could see a return of almost 103%. Notable – buying the more expensive low-E windows hardly made a difference in your return.
Replace Siding
Replacing roughly 1,250 square feet of existing siding with new fiber-cement siding – not vinyl or wood siding – factory primed and factory painted, including all 4/4 and 5/4 trim using either fiber-cement boards or cellular PVC can return almost 101%.
All other home remodeling projects returned less than 100%. Just because they didn’t, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take them on. If your home is in desperate need of updating, doing so will only improve your home’s salability, which counts for a lot, even if you can’t count the money.
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