Cost Verses Value on 5 Home Projects

Realtor Magazine just published a story on cost vs. value in a sale for 5 different home improvement projects. Interesting in some ways but hard to apply. These are averages from input by realtors from 80 cities across the USA. Markets are different in each area. What the basic inventory is, make a difference. For example, in Seattle we have a mix of homes from the teens through the nineties and a smattering of townhouses built in the last 15 years. And just 20 miles away you can find communities that were second growth forest until the 1980's and other areas that were developed in the 60's and 70's.
A kitchen remodel in a 1927 Tudor is a whole lot different that a redo of a 1980's northwest contemporary. But anyway, here is the table comparing the 5 projects, their costs and value.

Project	Cost	Resale Value	Recouped
Entry Door	$1,218	$1,243	102.1%
Garage Door	$1,291	$1,083	83.9%
New Siding	$13,382	$10,707	80.0%
Kitchen Remodel	$21,685	$15,790	72.8%
Deck Addition	$10,973	$7,986	72.8%

Before you rush out and do something, do some more reading, go to a few open houses and above all, talk to your favorite Realtor®. You might even want to take him to lunch and pick his brain. If you are going to sell, you want to do the things that make the most sense for your home, in your market, under current conditions. And the best way to insure that is to get the opinion of someone working in the trenches every day.

If your Realtor® is still in the business after the last three years, then he knows what he is doing.

The realtor magazine article: Cost vs. Value.