Remodeling Your Kitchen Still Helps Resale Value

There are many reasons for making changes to your home. For many, remodeling is an attempt to update a portion of one’s home to increase functionality and/or to give their home a fresh look. Sometimes a remodeling project is a lifestyle choice that reflects the growing needs of a family.

What’s often overlooked, however is the benefit of making changes to your home as a way to add value to your property. The family stays in a home for approximately seven years, on average, and if you’re thinking of upgrading your home down the road, you’ll want to maximize the value of your current home when you decide to put it on the market. The question becomes, “Is a remodel a profitable investment when it comes to sell?”

There’s some good news: updating your kitchen will still help your resale value, even in today’s slower housing market. According to the 2008 Cost vs. Value Report, an annual survey of the return on home renovation projects by Remodeling Magazine, kitchens consistently turn out to be one of the best investments you can make in your home, usually just ahead of fixing up the bathroom and right behind putting in more energy-efficient windows. For every dollar you put into your kitchen, you should expect to see 75 to 80 cents back at resale.

A win-win situation

If done correctly, a remodeling project can benefit you in the short term as well as at sale time. If you plan on staying in your current home for a few more years (perhaps to wait out the current downturn in the housing market), you can enjoy the benefits of your investment, knowing that you’ll recoup your expenses (and hopefully more) down the road.

There is one caveat, however. If you do plan on selling your home, it is important that you not remodel your home based entirely on your own personal preferences. To maximize the value of your remodel project, you want your home to appeal to the greatest number of potential buyers, so it is essential not to go overboard with styles, colors, or features that might not appeal to some buyers.

Another caution is to keep your remodel in line with the rest of your home. There needs to be a certain level of consistency from room to room. If your kitchen is filled with state-of-the-art appliances, bold colors and marble floors, the remainder of the house might look substandard by comparison. Yes, you want your kitchen to shine, as it’s one of the premier selling points to potential buyers, but “overdoing it” at the expense of the rest of your house can backfire on you.

In general, feel free to update and modernize that space in your house, knowing it’s money well spent. Enjoy all the benefits of having a remodeled kitchen in your home. If you have questions about the risks or what you might want to do to help improve your kitchen, feel free to ask your contractor about what options are available to you. Most well respected home builders keep abreast of current trends and know what updates that are integrated today will also be popular a few years from now. It’s ok to put your own personal touch on things, but design the room with the whole house in mind, and remember that there might be a future buyer to consider.