Top 10 Projects For Boosting Home Values

Making your home bigger, or nicer, always makes it more valuable. But some projects payoff better than others.

The average return on improvements has fallen for four straight years, slumping to 63.8% in 2009, which means every dollar spent now boosts a home’s value by an average of 63.8 cents

To determine which projects provide the best return we went straight to the mother lode of data — the brand new cost-versus-value home improvement survey by Remodeling Magazine and the National Association of Realtors.

We used that data to create a list of the 10 best home improvements, based strictly on the percentage of the cost recouped at resale.

We pulled out variations on the same themes, such as one kitchen remodeling project instead of minor, midrange and upscale kitchen renovations, which the annual survey breaks out in great detail. In those cases, we gave you the version that produced the highest rate of return.

Our top 10 home improvement projects, with the national average for cost, resale value and the percentage of the cost that was recouped, are:

Improvement 1. Replacing the entry door with a midrange steel door costs $1,172 and adds $1,470 to your home’s value, or 128.9% of the cost.

Improvement 2. Upscale siding replacement costs $13,287 and adds $11,112 to your home’s value, 83.6% of the cost.

Improvement 3. Renovating an attic into a bedroom costs $49,346 and adds $40,992 in value, 83.1% of the cost.

Improvement 4. Adding a wooden deck costs $10,634 and adds $8,573 in value, 80.6% of the cost.

Improvement 5. Minor kitchen remodeling costs $21,411 and adds $16,773 in value, 78.3% of the cost.

Improvement 6. Replacing windows with midrange wood windows costs $11,700 and adds $9,044 in value, 77.3% of the cost.

Improvement 7. Finishing a basement costs $62,067 and adds $46,825 in value, 75.4% of the cost.

Improvement 8. Midrange bathroom remodeling costs $16,142 and adds $11,454 in value, 71% of the cost.

Improvement 9. Adding a second story costs $156,309 and adds $107,286 in value, 68.6% of the cost.

Improvement 10. Replacing the roof costs $19,731 and adds $13,133 in value, 66.6% of the cost.

A minor facelift would include things such as replacing faucets, adding new flooring, new wallpaper or tile, new towel bar and toilet paper holder, maybe new doors for the shower.

Midrange remodeling adds new vanities and countertops, mirrors, medicine chest and maybe pulling the toilet and doing a new tub surround.

A midrange addition involves building a new bathroom with moderately priced fixtures, such as $165 for a solid-surface countertop with built-in sink as opposed to $500 for a custom-ordered sink that you would expect in a luxury addition.