SUVMER COMFORTS
A side from the enjoyment that home improvements
MI can provide your family, additions such as swimming
BY RUTHAN BRODSKY
pools and decks can also enhance property values
and real estate marketability. Whether or not you can
recover the investment cost of a home improvement
depends greatly on if the improvement is unique to your
neighborhood, the buyers' interest in such an item, and
how weathered the addition is at the time of the sale.
Below are examples of various home improvements, their
average cost, and the percentage of that cost you can
expect to recover, based on national figures compiled by
Real Estate Today, the official magazine of the National
Association of Realtors.
U ow do you know it's spring? When, in
Project
Cost
Recovery 0/0
Air Conditioning (central)
$2,500-$4,500
75-100%
$5,000-$10,000
1 0 0%
$5,000-$10,000
$5,000-$10,000
80%
Up to 50%
$2,000-$3,000
100%
Bedroom
Conversion of unused
space
Addition
$6,000-$8,000
$10,000-$15,000
100% (third)
75-85% (fourth)
up to 65%
(fifth)
Deck
$5,000
70%
Enclosed Porch
$5,000-$6,000
70%
Exterior Painting
$1,000-$2,000
50-60%
Exterior Siding
$3,000-$8,000
75% or more
Fireplace
$1,500-$3,000
75% or more
Garage
$3,500-$6,000
50-100%
Kitchen Remodeling
(excluding appliances)
$3,500-$10,000
60-70%
Landscaping
$50-$2,000
40-60%
Skylight
$3,000
Up to 66%
Swimming Pool
$10,000
0-40%
Luxury improvements
extend your enjoyment
of the warm weather
il addition to the robins chirping and the
tulips blooming, homeowners contemplate
a multitude of ways to enhance their living
arrangements. Painters and contractors, with
their trucks and ladders, appear on the
streets for the annual orgy of painting, fix-
ing up and/or remodeling.
Besides such popular jobs as adding a
room or remodeling a kitchen, there are lux-
ury improvements. For those who can afford
them, solariums, tennis courts, in-ground
swimming pools, and decks with hot tubs are
ways to further enjoyment of the warm
weather while enhancing property value.
Following are the experts' advice on these
more-than-ordinary projects.
18
HOME
Bath
Second full (added to
one)
Second full (added to
one and one-half)
Third full
Half (added to two-story
with one full)