When it comes to home additions, odds are you don’t want to throw money into something that’s not going to add value to your home. Sure, dumping your savings into that outdoor swimming pool may seem like a great idea – and it certainly will bring you some joy in the summers. But adding a pool could actually hurt your home’s value due to the liability issues it presents. This is why the ROI of the home additions you invest in is not something you’ll want to ignore. Something like adding a new bathroom or a new garage can help boost your property value – but what about expanding your living room instead of building on an entirely new room? Are the costs worth such an investment?
The Costs of Expanding Living Room Space
Expanding your living space may be something that you want to do in order to create a more spacious atmosphere or to make your smaller living room area a little bit less cramped. These are perfectly valid reasons for wanting to expand your living space, but you need to realize that it may end up being quite expensive to do so. Home additions typically require costly remodeling to begin with, including adding to both the foundation of the home and to the roof. As you might imagine, these aren’t the easiest remodeling tasks to take on. However, if you’re adding an extra bedroom or a garage, the ROI will usually justify the cost. This might not be the case with a living room expansion.
Is it Worth Expanding Your Living Room Space
While adding square footage to your home will probably improve its value, it won’t improve its value to the extent that the addition of an entire room would. This means that any work that has to be done on the foundation or roof may end up costing you more than its worth. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you shouldn’t do it though. First of all, you may be able to expand your living room space within your home’s existing structure. For example, if you have a wall separating your living room from a kitchen, hallway or mudroom, you could remove the wall to open up the space.
If expanding your living room within your home’s existing structure isn’t possible, it may still be worth expanding outwards even if the ROI doesn’t justify the cost. Don’t just make your decision based on cost – consider your quality of life as well. If expanding your living room space is going to greatly improve your comfort, then it might be worth doing regardless of the financial value – or lack there of – of doing so.
Most home additions will provide you with a positive ROI. However, in the case of expanding your living room space, you may find that the ROI is too low to justify. You should weigh you decision based on not just the potential ROI, but also on the impact it would have on your comfort and lifestyle.