
See, not every renovation is a good value. There are some home remodeling projects that are a gigantic waste of money, so it's important that you know this before you make an investment in them.
What are the worst home remodeling projects for your buck? They include:
• Remodeling your home office - Get this: homeowners who remodel a home office only recoup less than half of the project's cost when they sell the home. Why is this? After all, aren't more people working from home than ever before? Yes, they are, but that doesn't mean they want to take up valuable square footage in the home with a space that's set aside just for work. When you dump money into building a real home office, you're taking that precious square footage and preventing it from being used for any other purpose.
• Sun room additions - Adding a sun room addition to your home will only get you about a 49 percent return on your investment. That's not a good value if you're interested in making a smart investment in your home. The reason these renovations generate such a low return on investment is because they represent an inefficient use of interior space. People don't need a sunroom; they need more living space. And when you consider that the average cost of a sunroom addition is $73,000, it's pretty clear that there are smarter things you can invest your money in.
• Backup power generators - A backup power generator seems like a smart investment, right? Maybe it is from a practicality standpoint, but from a financial standpoint, it's not. With the average cost of backup generators at nearly $15,000 for homeowners, you might be surprised to learn that you'll only recover about $7,000 of that when you sell your home. That's less than 50 percent return on investment.
• Garage addition - An upscale garage addition will run you over $86,000 on average. That's a lot of money! And guess how much of that you'll recover when you sell your home? Only about $45,000. That's just over a 50 percent recovery rate. The problem is that garages are labor-intensive to build, and they are an inflexible space with very limited use.
Now, it's worth noting that just because these home remodeling projects might not be smart investments if you're interested in selling your home, they can still be worthwhile if you plan on staying in your home for a long time and you just want to improve its function for your own life. Remember, you want to be comfortable in your home, so if you're going to be there for a while, do what you want with your space.
No comments:
Post a Comment