Is that remodeling project you are considering worth doing? Well, it depends. What is your goal? Is it to add value to your home, or make your home a better place to live, or maybe both? As with any project, planning and self-education are key to understanding the project and achieving success.
You see a lot of estimates of returns in value on home remodeling projects, often as high as one-hundred or even one-hundred-fifty percent. You can do your own research and decide if you want to believe all that. Sometimes the highest estimates for value increase come from people that want to do the projects for you. But no doubt there can be great increases in value from home improvements. And most everybody agrees, kitchen and bathroom remodeling pays the best dividends in home value increases.
Lower on the list come game rooms and other special use features. Not everyone wants or needs a game room or home movie theater. But that is up to you. If you want one, and if you plan to stay in the house to enjoy it, it may be a fine use of your space, time, and money. After all, the room can be remodeled into something else, say a guest room, when and if you get ready to sell your home.
Something to think about, if you are considering selling, or are remodeling just for the purpose of increasing value for sale, is the season. If summer is approaching, you want to be sure to include ventilation and air conditioning in your evaluation of needed improvements. You also should consider your climate and average outdoor activity level when considering improvements like decks or pools.
A great addition to your living space, especially if you live in an area with lots of good outdoor weather, is an outdoor kitchen. A sort of amplified grilling area, with more cooking and cooling capacity, can really be fun and might be very attractive to buyers with a similar lifestyle.
In the bathroom, nice tubs are popular with most people. Even if somebody in the group says, "I only take showers", there will usually be someone else thinking fondly of a nice soak, with perhaps a candle or two and a glass of wine. You can hardly go wrong with bathroom upgrades, as long as you stay within reasonable bounds of what will fit in your space and what is reasonable for the price range in your neighborhood.
And that is another thing. What about the price range in your neighborhood? You don't want to upgrade yourself out of the top market price in your area. You might be better off to upgrade to a nice high average point, sell, and move on to where those fine-living fixtures really fit in.
Think hard about it, though, before you make your remodeling decision. The most important opinion is your opinion. And by your opinion, of course, I mean the combined thoughts and evaluations of yourself, your family members, and any and all parties involved. You people are the ones that have to live in the place and live with the outcome, so listen to yourselves most of all.