Whether or not the upgrades are worth a percentage of the cost is important but may not be accurate. Like Dane Hahn said you can go to Remodeling Mag. and get some idea of the value of your upgrades. Location, condition and price are what sells a house. And in todays market the buyer wants the best of it all. I offer a free pre-appraisal from a qualified appraiser with my listings to insure we are selling the house for the right price. It's important to remember that the buyers lender will also do an appraisal and will not offer a loan for more than the house is worth. Call/email me if I can help.
Wythe Shockley
Century 21/Option 1
804-874-0579
wythe@wytheshockley.com

Some upgrades make your home more appealing to a new buyer and may cause people to want to buy your home over your neighbor's home provided it is priced comparittively but do not add value. If you are asking significantly more than the others in your neighborhood, it may not even appraise for the sales price IF you could find an emotional buyer in today's market to give you what you want.

Working 4 Keller Williams Realty, we r taught 2 look at this situation in the buyers perspective.First,u made your improvements 4 your pleasure. 2, u may have over improved your property. 3, as an average, i would take a look at the cost of your improvements. and multiply by 2/3 as a guide and add this 2 the price of your house. A good realtor will point the outimprovements 2 a buyer, and put your house up 4 sale at the right price. B realistic.

It's called "OVERIMPROVEMENT" or "FUNCTIONAL OBSOLESENCE"!

You may not get back what you spent on your dramatically-upgraded-house so to speak. You admitted it yourself - you went overboard. Good luck!

Hi Shep,

Remodeling Magazine publishes a Cost VS. Value survey which is accurate by region and also by city. You should Google their site and check on the resale value of the improvements you have made.

The improvements sound wonderful, but as you indicate, you have the dramatically updated home in an older neighborhood. Usually the neighborhood will pull your value down a bit as it tends to average all the values. Meaning that the worst house will get a lift in value and the best house will be depreciated by the area.

Good Luck,
Dane Hahn

Shep,
I may be telling you something you already know, but being the "best" house on the block is not to your advantage. I am not from your area, so I am obviously not in a posiion to do any kind of market analysis but I know that if there are no comparables in your neighborhood, the farther away you have to go to find comparables, the less accurate they are, unless you can find a similar house in a similar neighborhood that has sold recently.
Do you have a Realtor? I'm just curious if you do, what do they say? If you are pricing it on your own, how did you come up with your listing price?