Home Improvements and Your Return On Investment

So you've made some improvements and upgrades in/on your property within the last year. Now, you're going to sell your property and are curious as to what you'll get back in value from the improvements you've made. Or maybe you're thinking about selling your home in the future and are curious as to which improvements will bring you the greatest return on investment (ROI).

Well, according to the Cost vs. Value Report, here are the top 10 home improvement projects based on average ROI:

Please note that these are national averages and may not reflect Loudoun County or Northern Virgina specifically.

For example, granite is not listed in this list, but is definitely in the top 10 for homes in Loudoun County. As is landscaping - a few hundred dollars worth of landscaping can be worth $500 to over $1000 in value, a significant ROI. on the flip side, two-story additions are not very common place in this area so there is no way to truly track the ROI on that home improvement.

Whatever the improvement is, make sure that you check around to see whether it's a good ROI. Times and tastes change meaning that the most sought after improvement or feature today may be old news by next year.