News Section - 03.10.07
< back to news index

How Much Makes Sense To Invest?

Your home should be treated as an investment, one of the biggest investments many people will ever have.  In this regard, its potential resale is one of many factors to consider when you are thinking of remodeling, even if you are not planning to sell immediately.  An important question to ask yourself at this point is how much it makes sense to invest on home improvements.

Deciding how you can get the best value from renovations to areas of the home such as the kitchen and bathroom is not always easy.  Colors, styles, and materials that are trendy today are often old hat tomorrow.  If you spend a lot of money now on remodeling in the latest style, with the idea of adding to the value of your home and selling it in a few years’ time, you may find those rooms that look so stylish now will not necessarily appeal to future buyers.  It may not add as much value to your home as you had hoped.  When renovating, therefore, you need to achieve a result that is attractive without being extreme.  Knowing how to achieve such a result is not always as easy as it seems, however, and you will benefit from the advice and guidance of professional companies such as The New York Kitchen and Bath - NYKB.   

For homeowners in New York City, the good news is that you are very likely to at least break even or make a handy profit when you sell.  Remodeling the kitchen or bathroom certainly won’t do any harm, therefore, but you do want to be sure that as well as getting the benefits of the renovations yourself, you also get the best value out of such renovations when you sell.  One rule of thumb is to keep the renovation costs between 10-20% of the home’s value.  If, for instance, your home is appraised at $200,000, it is reasonable to invest another $20,000-$40,000 in improvements.  This has a threefold benefit.  You enjoy the improvements while you remain in the house, they make your home easier to sell when you decide the time is right, and if you have renovated wisely, you will recoup the dollars you spend on the remodeling. 

Among the best investments you can make in regard to home renovations are mid-end kitchen and bath projects.  In this range, it is still possible for homeowners to design a kitchen or bathroom that meets their needs at an affordable price.  When designed with care, such a project can incorporate a combination of style and economy.  You can, for example, choose custom cabinetry that uses less expensive wood, or some stone counter tops integrated with less costly counter top materials such as tile in different areas of the room.  Over time, homeowners who carry out mid-end range kitchen and bathroom renovation projects can hope to recoup more than 95% of the money invested in these renovations.  In view of this, it makes sense to talk to the professionals when you are planning to remodel your kitchen or bathroom.  Companies such as New York Kitchen and Bath Company are aware of the types of features and décor that will make it more likely to sell when the time comes and that will also help you recoup a large percentage of your expenditure by adding to the value of your home.

In order to calculate how much your renovations will add to the value of your home, you need, of course, to know what they will cost.  To establish this, once you have a clear idea of such factors as the type of renovation, as well as the materials and finishes you want used, you will need to obtain estimates from a number of people to give you a good idea of the cost you should anticipate.  If you need to borrow money to pay for the remodeling, you will need to factor in the cost of the repayments for the time you plan to live in the house.