Renovation ROI
What is worth fixing before you sell?
The work that pays before a sale, the items a buyer’s financing requires, and the big projects to price in instead. Published regional figures and Kevin’s own rule, on the projects you pick. Free, no sign-up.
Your projectsCheck the projects you are weighing and the totals add up here. The rule is hyper-clean presentation over renovation.
How to read it
- The bar is how much of the cost comes back in the sale price. The mark is 100%: past it, the project pays for itself.
- Required means an appraiser or a government-backed lender will make you do it anyway, so do it before it costs you a buyer.
- Skip does not mean never. It means a buyer will pay less for your version than you paid for it.
Regional typicals from published cost and return research, last verified July 17, 2026. A starting point, not an estimate for your house.
Required to reach every buyer
Appraisal red flags. Cheap now, expensive mid-contract.
- $500 to $3,000Not optional
- $150 to $800Not optional
- $300 to $6,000Not optional
- $500 to $5,000Not optional
Worth doing before you sell
Most of what you spend comes back in the price.
- $200 to $1,500100 to 400% back
- $1,500 to $4,00060 to 107% back
- $500 to $3,00080 to 150% back
- $1,000 to $5,00070 to 147% back
- $2,000 to $8,00070 to 100% back
- $1,500 to $5,00060 to 95% back
- $300 to $1,50075 to 100% back
- $500 to $3,00080 to 200% back
Usually skip. Price it in instead
Big money, half of it gone at the closing table.
- $30,000 to $80,00040 to 70% back
- $30,000 to $90,00035 to 55% back
- $9,000 to $30,00040 to 70% back
- $25,000 to $70,00045 to 70% back
- $12,000 to $25,00045 to 70% back
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