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)