Accessibility Features: Will They Improve Your Home’s Value?

If you intend to remain in your home for as long as you can instead of making a downsizing move, you might be thinking about adding accessibility features to your home. For example, maybe you would like to convert a tub into a walk-in shower. Or you want to add a stairlift to make navigating stairs easier. Another couple of common adaptations I see are grab bars in the bathrooms or ramps from the garage to the house. 

Do changes like this add value to your home? Unfortunately, the answer is “not usually.” While there is a serious shortage of accessible homes on the market in our area, adapted homes don’t usually re-sell to people who need those adaptations. People who need the adaptations tend to look for homes that were built with the necessary adaptations in mind up front. For example, someone who is moving and needs a stairlift on the stairs will probably just opt to look at homes without stairs rather than trying to find a home with a stairlift already built in.

The homes that maintain the highest value are the homes that can attract the largest number of buyers. The percentage of the population looking for homes with accessibility features is a small subset of the population, so the buyer pool might not be large enough to have those features make a difference in value during re-sale. Also, most buyers are looking for move-in ready homes. Sometimes removing those accessibility features can seem like a big project making a home feel like it’s not “move-in ready.” That being said, most of the aforementioned accessibility features are not usually going to make your house LESS valuable. They just won’t necessarily ADD value.

It is wonderful that there are so many products out there in the market that can help you stay in your home. Since some of these adaptations can be quite expensive, it is important to make sure you know that this will be an adaptation that likely won’t improve your home’s value and in some cases, may need to be removed before the sale of a home in order to make the home more appealing to buyers.

Re-sale value and return on investment (ROI) isn’t everything though. If you are motivated to stay in your home and an adaptation can make that possible, I would encourage you to strongly consider that option.

There are professionals/volunteers out there who can consult with you to help you determine the best adaptations to make to your home for your longevity and safety. Dane County older adults can reach out to AgeBetter for a “Safe at Home” Assessment. For more information, check out their website here.