Home Improvement Project

[Bob B.]

We will be hiring someone to rebuild our back porch. We plan on spending about $4,000 on the project. I figure the current FMV of our house is about $80,000.

How much can I figure the 4K improvement on an 80K house will increase its value? We're not planning to sell the house. We're not planning on borrowing money against the house. I just want a figure to plug in to our personal balance sheet, so I can track the value of the house.

More info: It's a 130 year old farm house. We renovated the inside of the house 3 years ago. The inside is new and modern. We're basically picking an outside improvement project every year. Two years ago was the roof. Last year was the front porch. This year is the back porch. The back porch is very trashy looking. This 4k improvement will greatly increase the curb appeal. It looks really bad right now.

I've heard that you can figure 80% on some projects. 3.2K sounds high to me. But, it certainly seems to me that the value would be increased by at least 1K. Does anyone have a feel for this?

[phantom]

I wish I knew how to answer your question. I never adjust the value of our house when we do home improvement projects because I'm never sure how much to adjust by. But, I know that money isn't really just completely disappearing into the ether, so I'm always tempted to try.

I think you could reasonably pick anything between $1000 and $3000 that feels right to you. Keep in mind that the value of your house could very well fluctuate by more than that over the course of a year due to outside market forces, so you don't have to be all that precise.

[bjl584]

Probably not much at all. It will be more something for you to enjoy than it will something that will add any significant value to the home.

[Bob B.]

Like Phantom said, market forces will fluctuate the value of the home anyway, and prices are inching up slowly in Michigan. So, when the project is done, I'll adjust the value up by 1K, just to make myself feel better. 80K today, and 81K in April/May with a new back porch is, I think, fair. It's honestly just a number on a spreadsheet.

[siggy_freud]

Zillow says a porch addition can net between 77-88% return on investment. Since you already have the porch, and are simply refreshing, you'll probably get a smaller percentage return, unless the old one was in such poor shape that refreshing almost counts as putting a new one in.

[Rainbow Traveller]

Studies show that the average homeowner annually spends from $2,000 to $10,000 on major home improvement remodeling, and from $100 to $2,500 on replacement and repair projects. For most of us, that's a lot of money and can take a real chunk out of a parent's income. However, with some planning and a little work,you can beautify your home and still cut costs and that will depend on your mind and if you are a owner a house,your house rent will be increased for home improvement project.

[elfen lied]

You have to fix the root of the problems before you can do anything decorative to your space otherwise, you will be doing it twice.

[Fishindude77]

Probably not much at all. It will be more something for you to enjoy than it will something that will add any significant value to the home.

This statement is probably accurate.
I live in a home similar to what you have described. Love the character of these old homes.