In today’s economy, many people are having trouble holding on to their houses much less improving their homes. However, for those that are still able to do home improvements, the recession does affect some of the returns on your investment. It used to be that a good mid-range steel entryway door would give you a slightly better return that your purchase price; today that investment is only going to return 73 percent. Here are more ways that the recession is affecting home improvement returns.
How the Home Improvement Return Has Changed
According to Interest.com, there are some differences in the way that the recession affecting the home improvement market value, including six straight years of falling return ratios. In 2007, for every dollar spent on improvements to the home, 70 cents was the value returned. Today’s market sees that dollar only return 58 cents. For the best home improvement features to do in a recession, one will need to look at the annual cost versus the value of the home improvement.
Best Bets for Your Money
A few of the good bets to improve your home in a recession include:
Redoing an attic and making it a bedroom. This investment can return around a 72.5 percent value to cost. Garage door replacements. This investment can return around a 71.9 percent value to cost. Bathroom remodeling in the mid-range value. This investment can return around a 62.2 percent value to cost.
Don’t underestimate the value of a fresh coat of paint, crown molding, and redoing hardware on the kitchen and bath area. These simple fixes can help jazz up a room quickly and easily while waiting for values to increase.
Most people realize that turning a room into a bedroom or redoing a kitchen or bathroom is a great way to recoup an investment cost. Putting your floor plan in front of a knowledgeable home improvement specialist can see ways to add both value and space to your living arrangements. Opening up a floor plan can also help values. Remember items that can affect the values and the costs of a home improvement include regional price variations and the cost of professional labor. A do-it-yourself job is going to be substantially less on the pocketbook than a professionally installed item.
Source:
Interest.com