Not all remodeling projects
promise a profitable return on your
investment.

Recouping Your Investment

You already know what a huge undertaking remodeling your home can be -- the expense, the disarray, the difficult choices required. Well, here's one more issue to keep in mind: Whether or not you eventually recoup your remodeling costs varies greatly depending both only the project, and where you live.

Some projects unequivocally add significant value to your home. A new kitchen, for instance, is universally regarded as giving homeowners the most bang for their remodeling buck.

"When buying a home, people will overlook a lot," says Sharon Hanby-Robie, an interior designer and realtor based in Lancaster, PA, and author of My Name Isn't Martha But I Can Renovate My Home. "But an old or run-down kitchen will really hurt your resale value."

So go ahead and spend a little extra, particularly if you expect to sell your home within a few years. As a guideline, Hanby-Robie suggests spending 20 percent to 25 percent of your home's value on the kitchen. That may sound like a lot (and indeed it is), but according to Remodeling magazine's annual "Cost vs. Value" study, homeowners will recoup an average of 80 percent to 87 percent of what they spend on a kitchen remodeling project when they sell their home.

View Remodeling's "Cost vs. Value" report