Modest home improvements that make your home cleaner, safer and more functional are good bets for sellers, according to recent research from consumer website Zillow.com. However, big-ticket items, such as adding pools, major kitchen and bath remodels, and extensive landscaping undertaken for the sole reason of adding value, might not bring the return you hoped for.
According to the 2025 Remodeling report from the Journal of Light Construction, here are 10 home improvements that might not pay off when you sell your home.
1. Turning your kitchen into a white wonderland
According to recent polls on paint-color preferences of home buyers, a white kitchen can hurt a home’s sales price by more than $600. Instead, today’s buyers tend to prefer dark gray tones such as charcoal and graphite.
2. Adding a walk-in closet
If you’re tempted to turn a small bedroom into a closet, think twice before doing so. Home shoppers usually search for homes based on the number of bedrooms, and a homes’ value is derived in part from the number of bedrooms it has. Bottom line: a bedroom is going to be more valuable to most buyers than a walk-in closet.
3. Adding a deck
A wood deck that costs about $17,600 only adds about $14,600 at the time of sale. And composite decks have an even lower return, with only about half of your spend being recouped in the sale price.
This is one of those features, though, that might transcend costs considerations. If you love a good deck for entertaining, it could be worth it to build it for your own enjoyment, without worrying about whether you’ll get a full return on your investment down the road. And if the deck improves the view from the property, it could make the home more attractive overall. Also, home buyers’ enthusiasm for outdoor features remains high, so anything that enriches home life outdoors could be a win.
4. Turning your garage into a bedroom
While bedrooms are certainly important, you might not want to sacrifice a garage to create one. Listings that mention garages are associated with a slight sales premium: 0.3%, according to Zillow’s 2024 analysis of listings data. Parking is often tight in urban areas, and with the high price of cars, homes that allow for safe parking could have an edge over homes without a garage that can also serve as a handy storage space.
5. Installing an in-ground swimming pool
Whether a pool becomes an asset or a liability depends on a number of things, including the pool’s size, age, condition, location on the property and housing market. The main drawback is the cost, and the fact that other projects would be a greater return for the same money.
A fiberglass in-ground pool can set you back about $22,000, according to the home services website Thumbtack, which calculated the national average cost of installing a pool over the last four years. Add in fencing and landscaping, and you’re looking at an investment of at least $32,000, according to Thumbtack.
If you’re a pool person, that is money well-spent. If you’re not, you’re not likely to recoup the cost of building one.
6. DIY — done badly
There are plenty of projects you can do yourself to improve your surroundings. But there’s also a reason skilled tradespeople command high prices. Their expertise helps ensure beautiful outcomes that a new buyer isn’t going to have to spend money to redo. When you’re DIYing something for the first time – tiling a bathroom, for example, or installing a hardwood floor – there’s a learning curve that you should account for.
If you have a hankering for a feature, and want to see what you can pull off with your own labors, make sure you have the skill to tackle it. Spending big money on materials isn’t going to feel too good if the outcome is poor.
7. Remodeling a bathroom
Bathroom remodels are some of the most expensive improvements you can undertake. Even a simple bathroom remodel can set you back tens of thousands of dollars, and won’t necessarily pay for itself when you go to sell. And the more bells and whistles you add, the lower your return on investment.
For example, the most recent cost report estimates a $58,500 bathroom remodel would provide about a 35 percent return on investment, and an upscale one would return about 33 percent of the $107,400 such a remodel could cost.
8. Wall-to-wall carpeting
Carpet has a lot of upsides, especially when it comes to warmth, and there are a ton of new styles and textures to spice up any space. But carpeting isn’t as popular as some other flooring options. For-sale listings that mentioned new carpet sold for slightly less (0.2% less) than comparable homes without it. Buyers, however, are willing to pay a small premium (1%) for luxury vinyl flooring. So if you’re thinking of floor coverings, and you like the feel of carpet on your feet, consider whether you’ll get the same enjoyment from an area rug.
9. Laminate countertops
Changing up countertops can transform a kitchen or bath, but one material never seems to make it to the list of trendy or popular materials, and that’s laminate. Although there are some attractive options that mimic natural and manmade stone for a fraction of the price, homes sold that mentioned laminate sold for 1 percent less than comparable homes.
10. High-end fixtures
If you’ve got the money and derive pleasure from eye-catching fixtures, go for it. But it’s unlikely someone is going to buy your home because they’ve fallen in love with your $3,000 chrome faucet or light fixture. Consider choosing cost-efficient, attractive, well-made fixtures for updates instead.
