There are many reasons for renovating and remodeling one’s home. Things like flooring, carpeting and window coverings wear out or go out of fashion. People often want to make their homes more livable and functional in some way, enlarging a master bedroom, for example, or adding an en suite bathroom. And often people simply get tired of the way the place looks. It’s time for a change.

Another common reason for renovating is to get a home ready for selling. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) in the US, along with the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI), wanted to find out which of the twenty most common renovation projects provided the greatest return on investment and the greatest personal satisfaction.

Joy versus cost recovery

They measured the satisfaction people got from doing the reno and expressed it as a “Joy Score” of 1–10. And they measured the percentage of the cost spent on the renovation project that the homeowner could expect to recover on selling the home.

The differences between the Joy Score and the cost recovery are large in almost all cases. In only one instance, refinishing the hardwood flooring, would the homeowner recover 100 per cent of the cost when selling the home. Adding a whole new bathroom, on the other hand, in order to improve the home’s livability, produces the highest possible Joy Score of 10. People really like having a new bathroom, even to the point of saying they have a greater desire to be home since completing the project.

But should you consider adding a new bathroom to make your home more sellable? Don’t do it! Only 2% of realtors said a new bathroom helped close a deal for them. Further, realtors estimated that a seller would recover just 52% of the cost of a new bathroom.

Conclusion? Adding a new bathroom is not worth the money if you’re spending that money only to help sell your home. Do it for your own satisfaction, by all means, but consider a more modest upgrade if your intention is to sell.

The situation is not significantly different for those who merely renovate an existing bathroom. In this case, only 6% of realtors said it made a difference in closing the sale, and the recovery rate of money spent was just 58%.

What about the kitchen? Conventional wisdom has it that this is the most important room in the home, especially when it comes to buying and selling. And indeed, a relatively high percentage— 57% —of realtors said that they had recommended at least an upgrade before attempting to sell. And a quarter of them said having an upgraded kitchen helped close the sale. The kitchen upgrade, but not a complete renovation, thus earned top spot among realtors for its importance to a sale.

But once again, a lot of the money spent on the kitchen was not recovered. The cash recovery rate for a kitchen upgrade is 67%. This rate of return was found to be the same for a complete kitchen renovation. In the NARI example, a complete kitchen renovation cost US$60,000, of which just $40,000 was recovered in the sale.

Conclusion? It’s probably best to take a really hard look at the kitchen and decide whether it’s so bad that it’s likely to turn off purchasers in its present state, then spend as little as possible to freshen it up. Don’t spend a fortune on a complete kitchen reno just to sell your home.

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Best return on investment: refinishing hardwood floors has a high Joy Score of 9.6 and cost recovery of 100% when selling a home, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Her are some of the most common renovation/upgrade projects and how they stack up for cost recovery, personal satisfaction, and importance in selling a home.

Kitchen upgrade
• Top reason for doing it : upgrade worn-out surfaces, finishes and materials, modernize
• Percentage of realtors saying it helped sell the home : 25%
• Joy Score : 9.4
• Cost recovery : 67%

Complete kitchen renovation
• Top reason for doing it : upgrade worn-out surfaces, finishes and materials, modernize
• Percentage of realtors saying it helped sell the home : 12%
• Joy Score : 9.8
• Cost recovery : 67%

Bathroom renovation
• Top reason for doing it : upgrade worn-out surfaces, finishes and materials, modernize
• Percentage of realtors saying it helped sell the home : 6%
• Joy Score : 9.3
• Cost recovery : 58%

Add new bathroom
• Top reason for doing it : improve livability
• Percentage of realtors saying it helped sell the home : 2%
• Joy Score : 10
• Cost recovery : 52%

Closet renovation
• Top reason for doing it : more space, better organization
• Percentage of realtors saying it helped sell the home : 1%
• Joy Score : 9
• Cost recovery : 57%

New wood flooring
• Top reason for doing it : upgrade worn-out flooring
• Percentage of realtors saying it helped sell the home : 5%
• Joy Score : 9.5
• Cost recovery : 91%

Hardwood flooring refinish
• Top reason for doing it : same as above, upgrade worn-out surfaces and finishes
• Percentage of realtors saying it helped sell the home : 5%
• Joy Score : 9.6
• Cost recovery: 100%!

HVAC replacement
• Top reason for doing it : improve energy efficiency
• Percentage of realtors saying it helped sell the home : 6%
• Joy Score : 8.6
• Cost recovery: 71%

If Considering a Reno to Sell Your Home, Consider This by Josephine Nolan | Condo.ca