Additions

Increase your living space and your property value.

Every 1,000 square feet added to a home raises the value by more than 3.3 percent, according to a 2003 study for the National Association of Realtors®. While that percentage doesn’t sound significant, when you put it into numbers it makes a lot more sense.

For instance, if your home is valued at $200,000, a 3.3 percent increase adds an additional $6,600 to the value. Additionally, the 3.3 percent statistic can most likely be adjusted upward based on the age of the study. The study also claims that each additional bedroom adds 4 percent to the value of the home.

If your laundry is located in the basement, the value of your home decreases by two percent, so if you plan on adding square footage to the home, build a laundry room on one of the upper floors.