When you upgrade your home, the most important consideration is how much you, the owner, will enjoy the upgrade. Your home is your castle, and your home improvement budget should help make it even more regal every year. But another factor to consider is how a home improvement project will affect your home's resale value. As the time grows closer for you to think about selling, this factor becomes more and more imporant.
Every year, the website Remodeling publishes a cost to value report which includes a comparison of the money spent on a home improvement project compared to the value added by the project to the home's sale price. Based upon these comparisons, it's easy to determine which upgrades you will choose to make in your home.
Front doors:
A steel front entrance door costs, on average in the Mid Atlantic States, $1,259 and increases the resale value of the home by $1,115, showing an 88% recovery of cost. In terms of home improvements examined this year, this is the highest percentage recovered of any home improvement. A fiberglass door not only costs more ($2967), it also recovers less (66% recovery).
Additions:
Homeowners who try to increase living space have several options. Here's how it breaks down:
| Addition | Cost (average) | % recovered (average) |
| bathroom | $41,708 | 47% |
| attic bedroom | $54,873 | 68% |
| garage | $55,846 | 55% |
| sunroom | $78,248 | 41% |
| family room | $87,505 | 55% |
| master suite | $115,020 | 53% |
Decks:
Decks made of wood costs about $10,512 and decks made of composite materials cost about 50% more, averaging $16,313 in the Mid Atlantic States. Wooden decks recover about 70% of their cost and composite decks recover about 62% of their costs.
Remodeling:
Remodeling an existing room can also be a great home improvement project.
| Remodeling Project | Cost (average) | % recovered (average) |
| bathroom | $17,497 | 58% |
| home office | $30,151 | 38% |
| minor kitchen | $19,957 | 68% |
| major kitchen | $58,536 | 60% |
| basement | $69,012 | 58% |
Generators:
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, homes with backup power generators sold significantly higher than those without. Since then, the demand has decreased. A backup power generator will cost about $11,000 and will recover about 77% of the cost.
Windows, Garage Door, Roof, Siding
Homes need windows, garage doors, roofs, and siding in order to sell. Replacing these items will increase your home's value. A garage door replacement will recover about 77% of the $1640 cost. Window replacement will recover 55% of the $11,000 cost. New siding will recover 69% of the $12,575 cost. A new roof will recover 57% f the $20,100 cost.
So what's a homeowner to do? Remember, you have to live in the house until you sell it so any improvements that you make should be improvements that make you happy!
All data is from Remodel.
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