Will You Get Your Renovation Money Back When Selling in Rochester?

Buying a Rochester home? Click here to perform a full home search

Selling your Rochester home? Get a free Home Price Evaluation

Today’s topic comes from a question from our Facebook page, posted by Jennifer from Rochester. She asks, “Should I expect to get out of my home the costs of what I’ve put into it?”

In other words, she wants to know if she will she get all the money back that she’s spent on renovations and upgrades throughout the life of the home.

The answer to this question is maybe: it depends on the improvements you’ve made to your home.

Imagine two homes. The first home was built by the builder, and it needs a well that cost $20,000; the builder sold the home for $400,000. The second home, built by the same builder, ran into a problem with the well that resulted in it costing $40,000 to install. Just because the builder ran into an issue the second time around, and had to pump more money into it as a result, doesn’t mean the second home is worth more money; it’s still worth $400,000.

“

Value is not determined by what you put into the home, but what the buyer gets out of it.

”

The principle of substitution says that value is not determined by what a seller has put into the property, but what a buyer gets out of it. In the case of these two homes, they get exactly the same thing, water, even though it was more costly to install the well in the second home.

Keep this in mind when you go to sell your home. It’s not always as simple as spending money to make money when it comes to home renovations, so it’s best to check with a professional before making any big decisions. 

If you have any questions about this topic, or if you need real estate assistance of any kind, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We would love to hear from you!