Go Kitchens

How much will remodel increase the value of my home?

My home is in Menasha WI. When I bought it 2 months ago It was appraised at $125,000. I recently did a complete remodel of the downstairs bathroom as well as the kitchen. The old bathroom was very old and nasty and had a cinder block shower. Now it has a nice, large, tile, two person shower and a large two mirror vanity. The kitchen had a linolium floor and the design was poorly layed out. I opened it up with a nicer design, all new appliences, a island, and a tile floor. Basicly a top to bottom remodel of both the bathroom and kitchen. Does any appriasor on here or someone who really knows what they are doing give me an vauge idea of what I will have gained from doing this? P.S. all the labor was done by me and most of the cabinets and fixtures were bought through my work, so I was able to get our "cost" on them. I have roughly $5,000 into the bathroom and $6,500 into the kitchen. Thanks!

Public Comments

1. At this point it's really hard to say. Home prices are in the toilet right now. It's entirely possible that you did all that work and just kept the value the same as it was before. Although that may sound bad, you probably didn't lose any value. A lot depends on the home sales in the paper valley. I live just south of Madison, and our house values have taken a huge hit. If you plan on staying there for at least a few more years, you should see an appreciable rise in value. If you really want to know it's current value, have it appraised. If you don't plan to sell right away, have it appraised a month or two before you list it. Hope this helps.
2. Ususally a bathroom has between a 50% to 90% return investment rate and a kitchen up to 95% return, depending on the quality of the materials used along with the upgrades in the rest of the home. A common mistake people make is that the upgrades make the rest of the house look dated. In your favor is that you did the labor, saving you thousands in sweat equity. Another factor is what the neighboorhood will bear. If you increase the value of your home too much then you price yourself out of your neighborhood for future buyers. Hopefully your neighbors are also doing home improvements, which makes your house desireable within that neighborhood. Competition is good for neighborhoods.The point of the previous answerer is very much true at this time in our economy. I would not sell a bucket of dirt these days. But, in the future.........oh, yes. Also, I have had my house appraised and all they did was a drive by, look at town records and compare local recent sales. If you did not get permits, the town has no idea you have two great tiled bathrooms. Which is great for your taxes, but unless an appraiser does a walk through, the upgrades will not be accurately reflected.
3. There are 2 very different things. How much your house appraises for that is markable on paper (things banks care about and things appraisers can write down to justify their value) and how sellable is your home. One person may prefe your place because its cuter/ is styled to their liking or has things an appraiser may not be able to justify putting a number to like jetted tub/nice knobs/cute flowers. Everything depends on YOUR AREA'S EXPECTATIONS. Main things that can be most likely justified in an appraisal: 1. Square footage 2. Number of bedrooms/baths/garages 3. Basement square footage cannot be counted as sq footage of home, but an appraiser may or may not choose to give you a little bit more for having more unfinished sqft than the last house sold with less sq ft. Finishing sqft in basement may not give you a lot unless that is the buyer expectation. If you live in a neighborhood where it is expected to have a nice finished basement, having an unfishined basement could hurt you. 4. No matter what HGTV says, having a remodeled kitchen/bathroom may not help your house apprasie for more. It will only make your house more sellable and a buyer may want your house rather than someone else's. An appraiser will never sayd $4000 extra for nice countertops. Making these adjustments are a serious risk most appraiser will not take. Its all about what is expected of your neighborhood. 5. In todays market, an appraser may ahve to answer to the underwritter of the loan as to WHY he will compare your house with any other sale made more than 3 months ago. This is because of the varing market. 6. If you are plannign on refinancing and need your house to appraise for a set amount, if your bank knows what that set amount is aheqad of time they will secretly tell that to the appraiser. The apprasier will know ahead of time before ever entering your home if he can make that numebr work or not, and if he wants to get work from the bank, he will make that number work unless he sees it as too high of risk for him. The way game is played andanyone that tells you othervise is full of it. 7. Stay back... When the appraiser enters your home, don't say anything. Most people say the wrong thing that hurts them later on. Just move back and let him do his job. All of this is completely different if you are not getting an appraisal (figuring out what the home is worth) but rather you are selling. If you are selling a home, anyone can offer you anythign for the place and the more you stage a property so its an emotional purchase for the buyer, the better off you will be. The buyer very well may see the upgrades you made and offer more because he can jsut move in and not do a thing. Those things are not justified on an appraisal but very well pay off when selling.