Home improvements that may not pay off when you sell

Don’t let your desire to upgrade your home downgrade your home’s market value. Before you make a renovation fantasy a reality, consider whether the project will pay off when you’re ready to sell. Plenty of home improvements add value, but others — like these five — can hurt it.

A CHEF-QUALITY KITCHEN

If you love to cook, a high-end kitchen could be the ultimate gift — for you. But if you think a massive overhaul will majorly impact resale value, you might be in for a surprise. An upscale kitchen renovation recoups just 54% of its cost in added value, according to Remodeling magazine’s 2020 Cost vs. Value report.

DIY PAINTING

A bold statement wall can say the wrong thing to potential buyers if the workmanship is questionable. Streaky, chipped or low-quality paint can knock $1,700 off a home’s sale price, according to Opendoor data that looked at home offers made from June 2018 to June 2019.

AN EXPANDED MASTER SUITE

Knocking down a wall to create an oversize master bedroom or stealing closet space to build out a spa-style bathroom may sound dreamy. But how about as a selling point? “If you go from five bedrooms to four, and you can make it work, no big deal,” Arienti says. But he cautions that losing a bedroom in a smaller house could mean a lower selling price.

PLUSH WALL-TO-WALL CARPETING

Carpet can be especially unattractive to first-time home buyers, who may be used to landlords updating carpet between renters, de Jong says.

“In general, people are grossed out by (carpeting). It can make a room look a little bit dated.”

A SWIMMING POOL

It doesn’t matter if it’s infinity edge or above-ground: Any pool can be seen as a drawback by buyers who don’t want to deal with maintenance or insurance. Even in Florida, a pool doesn’t add value, Liede DeValdivielso, a real estate agent with the Keyes Company in Miami-Dade, said via email. If you’re thinking resale, it’s not worth it — you’ll never recoup the cost, DeValdivielso said. But if you’ll use it and enjoy it, put in a pool.

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