According to Remodeling Magazine’s annual Cost vs. Value report (http://www.costvsvalue.com), adding a new garage door can get you back as much as 98.3% of what you paid for it. That's an enormous return for what you invest, so it is certainly worth it!
It’ll run you around $3,500, depending on where you live, so be ready for that. The garage door adds curb appeal and a sense of security. The garage door is one of the first things a potential homebuyer will see, so make sure you make a good first impression.
Any work you can do in the kitchen is great. Painting the cabinets is something you can do yourself. It’s relatively low-cost, and it can help breathe life and light into a space that buyers focus a ton of attention on.
Kitchens tend to be a huge make-or-break deciding factor for potential homebuyers, so making sure your cabinets look up to date should be a top priority. No buyer wants to buy a house with the job of repainting the cabinets themselves.
Zillow notes that while a backsplash costs as little as $50 to $150/sq ft, it seems to have a positive effect on the speed and value a home sells for when you mention it in the listing. And odds are, you won’t need a ton of backsplash, anyway.
As previously mentioned, kitchens are one of the most important rooms to buyers when making a decision, so make the kitchen look fresh and ready for a new life! Adding a new backsplash is an extremely easy way to accomplish that.
Getting a new front door – particularly a steel door – can add curb appeal and help you sell your home faster. And it’ll likely get you back 91.3% of what you put into it. Get ready to pay a little under $1,500 (as a national average).
The front door is the grand entry to a new home, so make it welcoming! When they walk up to it, it needs to be new, up-to-date, and ready to take on new owners. Chipped paint, dirt and mold, and dents are not allowed.
If you can’t replace the whole thing, at least make the door look presentable. If you can find a color that’s unique – but not obnoxious – that’s great, too. (Make sure that you clear it with your HOA, if you have one.)
Painting the front door takes little time, effort, and money but can make a huge difference. Be sure to do some research to see what colors are trending. Choose a trendy color to make your home stand out or a standard color to make it look timeless.
Generally, buying a new washer and dryer isn’t going to help. Those don’t always even come with the home. But if you go for a new dishwasher or a new oven, that’ll go a long way toward reinvigorating your kitchen.
And replacing a few appliances for a fraction of the cost of an entire remodel is a smart way to upgrade your kitchen. Be sure your appliances match and aren't mismatched—that could make it look like the kitchen was just thrown together.
Of course, if you do go for a more holistic remodel, the Cost vs. Value Project estimates you can make back 81.1% of what you spend. That includes replacing cabinet doors and hardware, new appliances, and new countertops, sink, and faucets.
It also includes painting trim, adding wall covering, and replacing the floor. It may be a lot of work, but your kitchen, your potential homebuyers, and your wallet will thank you in the long run. So make a list, buy some supplies, and get to work!
It’s easy to fix problems with caulk and grout yourself. But it also clears up a really concerning-looking problem. (Well, where’s the water going?!) It’s also definitely something a good home inspector will check for, so get out in front of it.
Caulk can look messy or even stop working eventually. Be sure to replace any caulk that needs to be replaced. Grout can stain over time—but most of the time, all it needs is a good scrubbing. Look up which cleaning supplies work best for your type of grout and make it look new again.
Yes, it’s easy to fix paint. That’s the first thing a good agent will tell potential buyers. But if your paint is outdated, or makes the room feel too dark, or it’s old and dingy, that’s no good. You don't want anything to make a buyer hesitate.
All of those things are going to affect the first impression that a buyer has when they step into your home. And it's hard to reason yourself out of a bad first impression. So go buy a few cans of paint to lighten and brighten every dark room in your home.
Insulating the attic didn’t make an appearance on the Cost vs. Value Project this year, but in previous years, it’s been one of the few improvements that make back more than it costs. It isn’t a huge deal – the work itself usually costs less than $1,500. But the return on investment is nice.
While it's not as noticeable or exciting as remodeling your kitchen or painting the walls of your house, insulating the attic is still important and will be in your favor when it comes time to sell your house. Your homebuyers don't want to live in a cold house this winter!
If your light fixtures are too outdated or scarily old-looking, that’s a no-go. It’s not too difficult to install a new fixture yourself, and as far as home improvements go, lighting isn’t horribly expensive. There is a huge variety to choose from these days—classic or trendy, expensive or affordable.
If you have those unfortunate 80s fluorescent fixtures covered in popcorn ceiling, this could be a huge benefit for you. (And for the sake of decency.) Spend a day picking out up-to-date fixtures and have fun upgrading one of your home's most important features—lighting!
For pure return on investment, this might not be the greatest option. But it will make a nice selling point. This year, Remodeling puts vinyl window replacements at a 74.3% return on investment. (That’s better than wood windows, though, which clock in at 69.5%.)
That’s honestly a good guide for doing this in general – “midrange but new” gets better bang for your buck than “high-end remodeling”. While it's not fun forking over the money to replace windows, you'll be glad you did it once the new homeowners sign the paperwork.
This one’s going to be pretty demanding. It’s going to take a lot of effort and a lot of money. (An average of $10,950, according to Remodeling). But you will get 82.8% of that back and make your home a lot more attractive in the process.
It’s better to lose a couple of grand and move your home faster than to leave it on the market forever. When potential home buyers have their options narrowed down to your house and another house, that new wooden deck just might be the thing that wins them over.
“Universal design” is the name for design principles that make environments more accessible to a wider variety of people. Add things like support bars, walk-in showers, and a bathroom vanity with extra room underneath—small but impactful changes.
This can make your home more appealing to a wider variety of people and generally returns 70.6% of the cost involved, per Remodeling. It's something not every person looking to sell their home thinks of, so it could be the thing that sets you above the rest.
Replacing exterior vinyl siding with stone veneer is another project that pays back, according to Remodeling. While it does have a return on investment of 97.1%, it’s a lot more involved than replacing a garage door. Get ready for it to cost over $8,000.
You don’t have to do much – just a 300-square-foot band along the front of the house. But even so, that’s a big investment, so think carefully before you make a move. It's obviously going to make a big difference in the looks of your home, so even though it's expensive, it is definitely something to consider!
This depends greatly on where you live. The national average ROI is in the 60s, which isn’t great. But if you live in an area with a high price/sq ft, do some math. Consider the cost of making the garage a finished room and how many square feet that might add to your home.
Once you have a project budget and an expected return (additional square footage x local price/sq ft), you can easily determine if it’s worth the investment. When potential homebuyers are looking for a certain range of square footage, this may just bump you up into a lot of buyers' options.
Toilet installation can cost some money, but toilets themselves are surprisingly affordable, considering how essential they are. Getting a standard white toilet goes a long way, especially if the current one is showing signs of age or is in a weird color that was inexplicably trendy 20 years ago.
When picking out a toilet, it's best to go with the standard, classic look. However, you could always spend a little extra to get functional features like high water efficiency, dual-flush technology, touchless flushing, and more. You might even consider adding a bidet to the list of features your home offers.
Changing out the vanity in the bathroom, like replacing the toilet, is a great way to add a lot of “update” feel for minimal effort. That’s not to say that vanities can’t get expensive, depending on your taste. But they aren’t inherently expensive, and they can add a lot of youth to a bathroom.
There are plenty of blogs and other resources out there walking you through the process of a bathroom remodel, many of which include replacing the bathroom vanity. Once you pick out your vanity, use the tutorials to ensure your vanity installation goes off without a hitch and save money by doing it all yourself.
A few patches here and there are easy to do yourself, just like the grout and caulking. The cost is negligible, it’s an easy skill to learn, and it’ll make a massive difference in how your home is perceived.
We know that scratches, dents, and even small holes occur throughout the lifetime of a house. But that doesn't mean they have to hang around for potential homebuyers to see and even have to replace themselves. Spend a little time and money and take care of the issue.
