Nothing adds curb appeal like a new upscale garage door. Perhaps for that reason, garage door replacement has the highest ROI nationwide, beating out 20 other remodeling projects.

Swapping out an older garage door is also one of the least expensive remodeling projects you can do for the exterior of a home.

In our region, the average cost of replacing a garage door is $3,587. Yet, that expenditure typically results in a 120% ROI in the Pacific Region, which includes California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii.

A new wooden deck is highly appealing to both buyers and renters, especially in a nature-loving region like Tahoe. That’s why adding a deck is actually considered one of the best remodeling investments you can make.

For instance, a new wooden deck offers an 82.8% ROI nationwide. However, for the Pacific Region, the ROI jumps to 88.9%, making it a solid financial investment.

But a deck isn’t just a good investment. It also adds to the overall desirability of your property, making it easier for you to sell your home or rent it out to others, if that’s your objective.

As people are becoming increasingly concerned about the environment, more homeowners want energy-efficient homes—and they’re willing to pay for them, says Sandra Adomatis, a green valuation appraisal specialist.

The ROI you’ll get varies, depending on your region, the type of upgrades you make, and how you market your home once you put it up for sale. However, to give you a general idea, upgraded homes in Los Angeles County experienced a 6% increase in home value.

And while insulation isn’t a “sexy” upgrade, Kristin Davidson of Kristin Davidson Interiors describes it as “the single best return-on-investment.”

She explains, “Adding insulation of R-30 or higher in an attic has an average 108% return on initial material investment.”

Plus, energy upgrades have the potential to save you between 5-30% on your utility bills, making energy efficiency a worthy investment.

And with the federal government offering various tax credits for energy efficient upgrades, this remodel is a real no-brainer.

Nationwide, kitchen remodels typically have a 60-80% ROI. However, in a hot real estate market like Tahoe, that figure is probably much higher.

That’s because in high-demand housing markets, a kitchen remodel often yields a 100+% return. While there are no specific stats for Tahoe, cities like Miami, New Orleans, and San Diego all experience returns higher than 100% from kitchen remodels.

Kitchens are also considered one of the most important rooms in the house—for that reason, a kitchen has a big impact on whether future buyers or renters will find a home  desirable or not.

Plus, when you’re trying to sell your property and need it to  stand out among other homes on the market, an upgraded kitchen can be a great differentiator.

Stone veneer is stone that’s applied to the exterior of a home, so it looks as though the home was actually built  with stone. Not only does a veneer give homes a higher-end look, but homeowners love them.

For instance, when Remodeling compared 21 different remodeling projects in 149 markets, it found that replacing 300 square feet of vinyl siding with manufactured stone results in a whopping 97.1% ROI.

However, that figure was much, much higher in the Pacific region. In our area of the country, a stone veneer remodel leads to a 125.5% ROI—making it the remodeling project with the highest return in our region!