Question:
“Hi Gary. I recently read that when you sell your home, you only recoup 79.4% of the cost of a kitchen remodel. But my kitchen was really busted up and I’ve got to think I’ll get more than that back. What do you think?”
Answer:
You’ve hit upon a big beef I have with those home improvement “Cost vs. Value” reports they publish now and then. The huge variable they never mention is:
…How bad does your home actually need the improvement?
Years ago, there was an “eccentric” woman I knew who remodeled her kitchen. She decided she didn’t like it, had it torn out and a new one installed. She proceeded to do it yet again.
I can assure you she got right around a 0% return since her kitchen was fine before she remodeled it the last two times. Of course, this is an extreme (and insane) example.
But if you’ve got a pretty nice kitchen to start with, you may only get 25% of the cost of a remodel. But if your kitchen is a disaster, you may well get 100% or more of the cost.
Another variable, of course, is the cost. I’ve seen some $30,000 kitchen remodels that look almost as good as one that costs $90,000.
So I wouldn’t go by the statistics in those reports…