Remodeling Houston Real Estate
The National Association of Realtors® has shown some pretty bleak statistics over the last year with regard to homes and real estate prices. It states that home prices have fallen an average of 7 percent nationally in the past year, but that home owner’s investment in remodeling projects has only declined 3.86 percent.
Realtors responding to a survey in midsummer said home owners could expect to recoup a national average of 67.3 percent of their investment in 30 different home projects. At the height of the housing boom, home-owners could expect that number to be closer to 87 percent. So there has been a decline in these investments as well but remodeling dollars are holding their value better than most other types of investments are right now.
Remodeling still remains hot in most places around the country. In some areas certain real estate remodeling projects even average 100 percent recoup costs. High rates of recovery are seen in both strong and weak real estate markets alike. This all leads to the point that even when real estate markets slow down, if a person takes care of their property and will invest money into quality remodeling projects, he/she can recoup most, if not all of the initial investment.
Katy, Texas homes for sale and Katy, Texas real estate are located about 30 minutes west of Houston, Texas. The data for Houston, Texas real estate remodeling projects and the investment value of such projects would therefore more than likely be similar to those same projects in the Katy, Texas area. Here is some of that data:
| Project | Job Cost | Value at Sale | Cost Recouped |
| Attic to BR | $43,413 | $31,406 | 72.3% |
| Kitchen | $20,309 | $16,809 | 82.8% |
| Bathroom | $48,272 | $36,308 | 75.2% |
| Basement | $55,719 | $45,833 | 82.3% |
| Wood Deck | $9,782 | $8,543 | 87.3% |
| Roofing(Repl) | $14,448 | $10,390 | 71.9% |
| Siding(CemBd) | $12,831 | $11,331 | 88.3% |
| Windows(Repl) | $15,784 | $12,525 | 75-80% |
*Cost vs Value Report 2008-2009
As the housing market slows down, people begin to make renovations instead of moving. These renovations make the homes for sale more livable if done correctly and therefore will allow these homes to hold their value better. These livable renovations become a service to future buyers on these homes and people are generally more willing to pay for something that they feel they are getting more for their dollar. This helps in the negotiations later down the line when the home is sold.
The one caution I would like to pass on is that not every renovation is right for every home. nor should a home owner try to do all of them. A home owner doing remodeling needs to be careful not to price his home out of the market and make it an unsellable house. Ultimately the housing market will win and this home owner will never get his/her money back out of the home. Even if the home and the renovation is extremely nice, the people that can afford the home, with the renovations, will not want to live in an area that the other homes are dramatically less expensive than their home. Likewise, the people most likely to purchase in that area will not be able to afford this home with all of the renovations done to it. So, they will buy one down the street and this home will still be on the market.
Having said all of this, people’s homes are still one of their best, most stable investments and remodeling and renovation dollars spent appropriately to upgrade one’s home are good investments. Just be smart and careful when planning which projects to do and how much to spend.
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For more information about real estate issues in Katy or West Houston contact Steve Reddell. He is a licensed REMAX real estate agent in Katy, Texas you can trust. You can contact him directly at 281-994-5173 or visit him on the web at www.katyfamilyhomes.com.
Filed under: Economy/Market, Katy Family Homes, Maintaining Your Home, Sellers
Great Article. OUR Remodeling Business matches you data and we are actually getting more business recently. I will visit again for more articles.
Thanks.