If your mortgage rate starts with a 2 or a 3, you’re probably not moving anytime soon — and you’re not alone. A huge share of South Jersey homeowners locked in rates during 2020-2021 that simply don’t exist anymore. Selling now and buying at today’s rates would mean a bigger payment for a home that isn’t necessarily better than the one you’re already in. So more and more of our clients in Voorhees, Marlton, Washington Township, Mullica Hill, and Medford are asking the same question: instead of moving, what if we just made this house the one we actually want?
It’s a smart question, and it’s one we can answer with real numbers.

Why now, and why homes built after 1990

A lot of the towns we work in saw major development through the 1990s and 2000s. Those homes are now 25 to 35 years old — right around the point where original kitchens and bathrooms have run their course. Builder-grade cabinets, laminate counters, the oak trim and brass fixtures that were standard in 1995, and layouts that wall off the kitchen from everything else, all of that reads as dated today. It’s not that these homes were built poorly. It’s that finishes have a shelf life, and that shelf life is up.

That combination — a solid, well-located home with tired finishes, and a homeowner who has every financial reason to stay — is exactly the scenario where a renovation makes the most sense.

The ROI numbers, project by project

Using the 2025 Cost vs. Value benchmarks (the industry standard for tracking what remodeling projects return at resale), here’s roughly what different projects recoup:

A minor-to-midrange kitchen remodel — updated cabinets, counters, appliances, flooring, keeping the existing footprint — is currently returning around 113% nationally, meaning it’s one of the only projects that can pay for itself and then some. A full gut, high-end kitchen expansion returns less on paper, closer to 36%, because the price tag climbs faster than resale value does.

A midrange bathroom remodel returns around 80%. A bathroom addition — adding a powder room or full bath where there wasn’t one — returns about 53%, which is the strongest of all addition types tracked, and it’s up sharply from a year ago as more buyers prioritize an extra bath.

Room additions in general, like a family room bump-out, typically land in the 30-60% range depending on size and finish level, with smaller, well-integrated additions performing better than large primary suite additions.

Two things are worth being straight about. First, these are national averages — actual ROI depends on your neighborhood, your home’s price point relative to others nearby, and how well the finished product matches what buyers in that market expect. Second, and more importantly for most of our clients: resale ROI is only half the story if you’re not selling.

Pay Attention Here — This Is What Actually Matters If You’re Staying

If you’re planning to stay in your home for the next 10, 15, 20 years, the relevant math isn’t “what will I get back if I sell.” It’s “what am I getting for the money I’m about to spend on a house I already know I want to keep.” A family room addition that lets you actually use your first floor the way you want to, a kitchen that opens onto that family room instead of hiding behind a wall, a laundry room that moves upstairs where it’s actually convenient — those are returns you collect every single day, not just at closing.
That’s the case we make for full first-floor renovations: open up the wall between the kitchen and living space, redo the flooring throughout so it’s continuous, repaint and re-trim the whole level, put in a new kitchen with a layout that actually works, and maybe finally solve the laundry room in the process. Individually, each of those projects has a return. Done together, as one cohesive first-floor renovation, the home stops feeling like a house you’re patient with and starts feeling like the house you meant to buy in the first place.

If you’re weighing “remodel or move”

Run the numbers before you decide. In most cases, especially if your current rate is well below today’s market rate, a well-planned renovation costs less than the rate difference alone would cost you over a few years — and you get a home built around how you actually live, in the neighborhood you already know.

If you’re in Voorhees, Marlton, Washington Township, Sewell, Mullica Hill, Medford, or anywhere else in South Jersey and you’re weighing a full first-floor renovation, an addition, or a kitchen and bath update, we’d be glad to walk through what that could look like — and what it would actually cost — for your specific home. Request a quote or give us a call at (856) 939-1069.