9 Home Renovations That Rarely Pay Off

While renovating and upgrading an existing bathroom is one of the best things you can do for your home, adding a new bathroom from scratch is another story. With an average cost of $50,000 for a luxurious, high-end bathroom, sources indicate that you’re only likely to recoup about 50 per cent of your investment when it’s time to sell the home.

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While some buyers are seeking large, grand master suites, the trend these days favours luxury over square footage. Adding a massive hotel-like master suite can be an expensive proposition (upwards of $200K) and won’t necessarily offer a good return, with Nasdaq.com estimating the addition of a huge master suite will only deliver a 56 per cent return on investment. A far wiser idea is to add some luxury upgrades to the existing master instead.

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Creating that walk-in closet of your dreams or adding some much-needed organizational elements into an existing closet will certainly improve your life, but don’t expect the costs you sink into it to be recouped when you sell your home. While a closet reno is relatively inexpensive (approximately $3,500 is the average), only 1 per cent of realtors said that a snazzy new closet helped to close the deal.

The notion of converting unused space into a functional home office or a fun home theatre makes sense, but it won’t necessarily be seen the same way by a prospective homebuyer, as each person has varying needs and wants. To get better bang for your buck, it’s best to spend your dollars in the kitchen or bathroom.

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Replacing your front door with a fibreglass door can be expensive, with an average cost of $3,500. When selling your home, though, buyers likely won’t care how much you spent on it and estimates are that you’ll only recoup 60 per cent of what you paid.

You might think the idea of converting your garage into additional living space is a good idea, say an extra bedroom or the (wo)man-cave you’ve always desired. Prospective homebuyers, though, may actually want a garage. That’s especially true in cold and rainy climates, notes Seattle realtor Sabrina Booth. “That room will always feel like a cold garage,” she says. “A garage is much more valuable than an extra room.”

Wall-to-wall carpeting can look spectacular after it’s installed, but it won’t take long before it will begin to start showing wear and tear. And unless whoever wants to buy your home has the exact same ideas about colour and design that you do, they’re likely to rip up what you just spent thousands of dollars to put in.

You’d think a swanky backyard pool would add big bucks to your home’s value, but that’s not necessarily the case. In addition to the upkeep – which is continual and expensive – an in-ground pool actually doesn’t offer that much return on investment. The Appraisal Institute of Canada ranks pools at only delivering a return on investment between 10 to 40 per cent.

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Wallpaper may be making a comeback, but it’s a far more expensive, fussy proposition than a coat or two of paint. Home decor can be very personal and varies from person to person and adding high-end wallpaper may fit into your design schemes – just don’t expect it to add any value to your home.