Home Living
What Really Adds Value in a Remodel
By Dan Smith

What Really Adds Value

I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing holiday. This month I wanted to share a conversation I had with a couple of different appraisers. Some of you have written or emailed me wanting to have some ideas regarding remodeling projects. In specific, the questions pertained to what things can or should be done that actually add value to the house. So here for your edification is the result of that inquiry.

If your goal is to increase the value of your home, then the following improvements are those that consistently add value to the home. They represent the best investments you can make in this regard. Those would be:

• Remodeling the Kitchen
• Remodeling the Bathrooms
• Creating or remodeling a Master Bedroom
• Adding a Media room (No, nobody’s husband put me up to saying that)

There are also improvements that may need to be done, that fall under the maintenance or cosmetic category. These are necessary to maintain value, but don’t expect a dollar-for-dollar increase in the value of your home as a result. You should note that failure to maintain your property may result in a decline in value, by the amount needed to repair/maintain any deficiencies. These kinds of improvements would be things like

• Exterior & Interior Paint
• Water Systems
• Electric and Gas systems
• Structural aspects (such as foundation, floor, walls or roof)
• Trim, scratches, holes in walls, wood, etc.

Finally if what you are doing is being done to prepare the home for resell, you might consider calling your Realtor to come out and visit first. Much of that kind of work may fall into the later “cosmetic” category. A good Realtor can tell you what the most widely acceptable colors and carpet types are, and may know where to get them at a discount. There is nothing more unfortunate in real estate, than to find out that the new purple paint (you love) in the bathroom, may actually be the limiting factor in reselling your home.