The cost versus value of remodeling is one of the major real estate questions that homeowners face.  I wrote this post about the National Association of Realtors 2008 Cost Versus Value Report a couple of months ago.

Hanley Wood has a much more regional tool for the cost versus value of projects.  The link is to the national spreadsheet but you can drill down into regions and register to download city-specific information which is where the graph below for Portland came from.  The report provides a description of what each remodel project entails.

The graph: © 2009 Hanley Wood, LLC. Reproduced by permission. Complete city data from the Remodeling 2009–10 Cost vs. Value Report can be downloaded free at www.costvsvalue.com.