4 Updates Home Sellers Must DoAttic Bedroom
Cost of attic bedroom: $39,188
Average resale value: $36,649
Percentage of cost recovered: 93.5%
Best return: San Francisco 151.6%
Worst return: Allentown, Pa. 58.8%
Turning an unfinished attic into a 15x15 foot third or fourth bedroom with a 5x7 bath really pays off in hot housing markets where older, close-in neighborhoods offer homes with easy commutes but smaller square footage. The payoff for remodeling this existing space is higher than the payback for adding new space. Putting on even a modestly priced master suite addition costs typically costs about twice as much as finishing an attic and the return (82.4%) is lower.
Remodeling magazine 2005 data courtesy of Hanley Wood, LLC. Reproduced by permission. Republication or dissemination of the 2005 Cost vs. Value Report is expressly prohibited without the written permission of Hanley Wood, LLC. "Cost vs. Value" is a registered trademark of Hanley Wood LLC. Unauthorized use is prohibited.
