Brandon Nelson

Cost Vs. Value

For 22 years now, Remodeling Magazine has published a Cost vs. Value study where they look at roughly 20 common upgrade areas and measure the return on those upgrades. The study is separated by region, but all in all, there was only ONE upgrade they considered to return better than dollar for dollar.

First, let’s look at some of the other upgrades and their respective returns:

• Adding a sunroom, 54.2% return.
• Remodeling a bathroom, 77% return.
• Remodeling a basement, 91.6% return.
• Adding a deck, 82.1% return.
• Adding a back-up generator, 57.9% return.
• Adding an attic bedroom, 87.7% return.

And as far as making upgrades to the house itself, the single highest return on investment, which in Remodeling Magazine’s analysis returned nearly 130% of cost, is upgrading the front entry door. Some friends of mine made this upgrade before selling their Columbia neighborhood home. We all agreed it made a substantial impact on the presentation – and helped sell the house in 3 days.

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 1:49 am and is filed under Home Projects & Upkeep. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1. d downer wrote on February 23rd, 2010 at 5:27 am

   Hey Brandon, greetings from Panama!!! This country is all for sale down here, and the prices are pretty close to Bellingham. Actually makes me feel better about the Bham market when looking at wages vs. House prices. Anyway, just thought I’d innapropriately put a completely off topic (or should I say “off tropic”) comment on your blog. Couldn’t help myself from visiting.

   –d downer

2. brandonnelson wrote on February 23rd, 2010 at 6:22 am

   Downer! Totally awesome of you to write from Panama!!! I’ve always wanted to go. And to think, it took you flying all the way down there and browsing the real estate classifieds to come to the realization that Bellingham’s market is sane! I’ll get some offers drafted up on half a dozen different great deals here, and you can choose a couple when you touch back down. Meanwhile, have a great time, stay out of the Panamanian jails, surf lots of waves, and keep sending us that tropical sun! Thanks again for the note!

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