Home Improvement

Home improvements seldom, if ever, provide a 100% return on investment. Here's how it averages out:

KITCHEN MAKEOVER returns 80%. But a simple, less expensive updating can return almost as much - 75%.

Adding a full bathroom returns an average of 84%, while turning a basement into a social area returns 79%. Turning an attic into a bedroom suite can return 93%.

If planning to sell soon, the best investments as far as improvements are concerned are those areas first seen by buyers (front entrance, front yard) and those spaces most used and most important - kitchen and bath. If your home only has two bedrooms, if you can add a third in the existing space (attic, basement, den etc.), that will make your home available to a larger pool of buyers.

If your land is not very "friendly" for family use, perhaps because it is rocky, is on a steep hill or is otherwise unuseable, consider building a deck over the area, making it suddenly useable. A deck can easily be divided into different outdoor living spaces by using planters, built-in seating, built-in firepit, or simply by building a multi-level deck.

If you have an unused lawn area you would rather not have to mow, you might choose to replace the grass with low-bush blueberries. They only grow a few inches high, cover an area well and will eventually crowd out weeds, and they can provide a large amount of delicious fruit every June. And you never have to mow or prune.