You may be thinking about doing some home improvements. Perhaps you want to update your kitchen or add a new bathroom or put on an addition. And you may be wondering what improvements would add value to your home. By adding value, we mean that the improvement could increase the selling price of your home for more than what the improvement cost you. 

For example, let’s say you could sell your house without improvements for $250,000. If you spent $20,000 on a home improvement project, you will have added value with that project if you could then increase the price of the home for more than the $20,000 it cost you to improve it. You could then sell your house for over $270,000.

If adding value to your home for resale is of interest to you, then don’t do the following projects:

1. Add a Home Theater.

If you convert a room or basement into a home theater, it really doesn’t add value to your home. We have done this project a couple of times and it is lots of fun to build. However, while you might be able to raise the selling price of your home with this improvement, it won’t be enough to recoup your investment.  You’ll end up money out of pocket. Unless perhaps you start selling tickets and popcorn?

       2. Re-roofing your home.

Lots of research has been conducted on how much value a new roof will add to your home, and there are mixed results. Remodeling’s 2019 Cost vs. Value Report found that the average American homeowner spends $22,636 on a new asphalt shingle roof of mid-range quality. That new roof will increase the home’s value by $15,427, on average. That works out to 68% of the investment.  So, you would get some of your investment back, but not all of it. Of course, if your roof is leaking, well…

       3. Add a swimming pool

Who doesn’t love a pool party! Barbecue ribs, and a diving board, and games of Marco Polo…so much fun! But a swimming pool is almost always a money losing proposition when it comes to selling your home. A pool will also make it harder to sell your home because pools are considered a liability more than a luxury. It may increase your property taxes and your homeowner’s insurance. Yuck, I’d rather do a belly-buster off the high dive.