Home Improvement

Ask the remodeler: What’s the ROI on remodeling to sell a home?

We discourage clients from investing too much money into a property if they are not planning on living there for much longer.

For people who are putting their homes on the market and want to “fix things up,” the main thing to consider is curb appeal — not interior upgrades — since a new buyer may be ripping them out anyway.

By Mark Philben -- Globe Correspondent

3 minutes to read

A reader wrote in with this question:

I own a single-family (three-bed, one-bath) 1,100-square-foot Colonial (circa 1900). It is configured with three bedrooms on the second floor and a single bathroom on the first floor. I am currently planning on doing an extensive remodel: kitchen, bath, roof, new windows, etc. My plan is to sell the house after living in it for the past 19 years.

I have been tracking real estate values in my city and my neighborhood. According to Zillow, my property is valued at $512,000. I know I would not get that much based on the current condition of the property; I estimate I could get $425,000. I’m sure I could get more than the Zestimate if my house was remodeled.

My question is: In your opinion, which of the following plans for remolding would add the most value? (There is not enough square footage on the second floor to add a bathroom and keep three bedrooms.)

  1. Remodel and keep the current configuration of three bedrooms on the second floor and a single bathroom on the first floor.

  2. Lose a bedroom on the second floor to add a second-floor bathroom.

Marc, Lynn

This is a very good question. There are several well-respected construction industry publications that all agree most remodeling projects have a negative return on investment. That seems counter to people’s expectations, but it’s true.

Our clients typically bring up the question of return on investment as they contemplate how much they should budget for a given project. While this is something that should be considered, it should not be the overriding concern when putting a substantial amount of time and money into a remodeling project.

We discourage clients from investing too much money into a property if they are not planning on living there for at least another seven to 10 years. In that time frame, they can typically recoup the investment and more importantly, enjoy the space they have created.

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The Journal of Light Construction did a very comprehensive study on the cost vs. value of many remodeling projects. For people who are putting their homes on the market and want to “fix things up,” the main thing to consider is curb appeal — not the kitchen or bath — since a new buyer may be ripping them out anyway. Obvious repairs need to be made, but a substantial renovation of interior spaces generally isn’t recommended. A fresh coat of paint, professional cleaning, and a properly staged interior (your listing agent will help with this) should suffice for interior preparation. According to the aforementioned publication, things like a new front door, garage door, new siding, power washing and paint, or a landscape makeover will recoup anywhere from 100 percent to 200 percent of your investment.

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Here is a small sample of the cost vs. value numbers for common remodeling projects based on homes in the New England area in 2025 as detailed in the Journal of Light Construction. The following numbers are the percentage of investment that could be expected to be recouped in the short term:

  • Full midrange kitchen remodel: 50.4%

  • New midrange bathroom added: 44%

  • New roof, asphalt shingles: 62.6%

  • New windows, vinyl: 71.2%

(Note: These are the expected returns if the the property is sold within a calendar year.)

Contrast the numbers above with the following exterior renovations:

  • Garage door replacement: 349.3%

  • New front entry door: 182.9%

  • New fiber cement siding: 144.9%

The takeaway from all this, as it relates to our reader’s question, is that putting too much money into many interior remodels will likely not get you any return on your investment. While it could make your home sell faster depending on the condition of these spaces, a new buyer may not care to pay top dollar for a newly remodeled space they plan to gut anyway. To buyers, a solid, well-crafted exterior may have more value so they can focus on making the interior their own.

All this should be discussed with your local realtor. Different communities have different demographics and expectations that shape how and where you should spend your remodeling and repair dollars.

Mark Philben is the project development manager at Charlie Allen Renovations in Cambridge. Send your questions to [email protected]. Questions are subject to editing. Subscribe to the Globe’s free real estate newsletter — our weekly digest on buying, selling, and design — at Boston.com/address-newsletter.

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