For the first time in a long time, South Carolinian homeowners are asking, “Is a sunroom a home addition that adds value?”…
Unlike other regions around the nation, South Carolina has experienced one of the hottest real estate markets in the country. It continues to be a state that attracts people to move from all across the US. Since 2023, homes have consistently sold within days, and bidding wars have been common. As we enter the second half of 2026, however, the housing market has shifted into a more balanced atmosphere.
Why Are Homeowners Looking For Sunroom and Other Home Additions That Add Value?
Today, the market looks different…
Although South Carolina continues to be one of the most sought-after states in the union, homes are now taking longer to sell, and at the same time, buyers are getting pickier. When you couple that with other conditions, such as inventory across the state increasing, it is leading to a buyer’s market, leaving sellers jumping through hoops to gain the advantage again. Lastly, add to the scenario that interest rates remain higher than we’ve traditionally known at the mid-6% range, and people are going back to the 2009 era of questioning…
“Should we love it or list it?”
Love it Again With a Sunroom Addition
Many homeowners are ditching ideas of trading up and finding a new location to reside, and choosing rather to make improvements in their existing homes so they can fall in love with them all over again. In a post-COVID era, people are looking for quality of life versus the daily grind, so updating has become a more acceptable way to love where you live over house-hunting.
Equity Matters
With an economically tense atmosphere, homeowners aren’t just looking to fall in love with their homes again; they want to have a stable investment to fall back on. Homeownership, for many, is their ace in the hole for retirement, which has many homeowners asking, “What are home additions that add value?”
The GOAT Upgrade – A Sunroom
Sunrooms are especially desirable in the South region of the United States. According to statistics, South Carolina has an average of 115 sunny days per year, which translates into 2,826 hours of bliss. Sunroom additions are one of the best ways to capitalize on those days, both for wellness and energy-efficiency, making a sunroom the perfect fall-in-love factor there is.
Why A Sunroom Addition Adds Value
The National Association of REALTORS consistently rates a sunroom as one of the best additions that add home value because they work on two fronts: they have a financial and a lifestyle return. The average homeowner can recover as much as 50-70% of the invest of a sunroom at resale. Other benefits include:
A Sunroom Adds Additional living space
A properly built four-season sunroom has the benefit of adding square footage to your home while also providing additional living space. Whether you want to add a home office or a playroom, a sunroom can be whatever you want it to be. Sunrooms not only offer functional space for you and your family, but they also increase your curbside appeal.
A home with a sunroom is more attractive to potential buyers, so it increases your market competitiveness. Once more, if designed correctly, a sunroom can help decrease your energy costs by using natural sunlight and air flow to regulate your heating and cooling, and lower your energy costs monthly. Sunrooms are a perfect mid-investment that offers advantages without downsides, such as:
- Expensive remodeling costs
- Long timelines for completion
- Disruption to your home
- High cost of building
Building a sunroom isn’t an automatic road to increased equity. How you design a custom sunroom and the sunroom installer you choose to design and build it do matter. At Express Sunrooms of the Carolinas, we offer customized sunroom plans that fit your individual goals, exist perfectly with your current home’s design, and offer the highest quality products in the industry. So, if you are going to upgrade with a sunroom, make sure that it is a home addition that adds value by hiring the correct contractor.
Screened Porches
Living in South Carolina means tepid weather a lot of the year, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the great outdoors is always great. Extreme temperatures and mosquitoes can both have homeowners running indoors to escape most of the summer. A screened porch is an addition that allows you to enjoy the best of the outdoors without all the things that aren’t all that great.
Those living in South Carolina know that it isn’t just the inconvenience of the bugs or the extreme temperatures; pollen is the bane of a Southerner’s existence from the months of March until about June. A screened porch saves you from allergy suffering, the thin layer of yuck, and cleaning constantly throughout the season. A perfectly designed and built screen porch can extend your outside time considerably while also adding a perfect gathering space to entertain the night away.
Patio Covers
Nothing beats sitting out on a patio enjoying the sun going down or the sunrise, but only when the sun is actually shining. A patio cover is a great way to extend your time outdoors, come rain or shine. Imagine no more rainy days or rain delays. A patio cover also helps to protect and extend the lifespan of your outdoor furniture. No more running to remove cushions at the first sight of rain, or worse, not removing them in time and returning to a soggy mess.
A properly designed patio cover provides shade for homeowners during the peak times of the day and year. You can comfortably sit outside and watch the children playing or hold a backyard BBQ without running for the indoors when the scorching sun hits. A cover can typically lower the temperatures for sitting outside by 10-15 degrees, which is a significant reprieve.
Louvered Pergolas
Louvered pergolas are quickly becoming a homeowner’s favorite upgrade and a popular addition that adds value. Our louvered pergolas are state-of-the-art and can adjust shade to be as much as you want it to be. They add luxury to your outdoor living by providing immediate shade at the touch of a finger. If you see a rain shower coming, simply close the slats, and you can stay seated comfortably outdoors. Express Sunrooms of the Carolinas louvered pergolas are completely motorized and built to last. They also look amazing and offer a new feature that will have you falling in love with your outdoor spaces, and in turn, your home again.
Retractable Screens
Not all homeowners want to completely screen in their outdoor areas and limit access to them. Our retractable screen systems allow you to screen in your current outdoor areas to make them more comfortable. Whether you want to enjoy your garage, porch, or patio more, our screens protect you from bugs and stinging insects, pollen, and prying neighbor eyes.
They also allow you to enjoy summer breezes, rainy day afternoons, and the best of the South Carolina weather without sweating or slapping mosquitoes away. When you aren’t feeling them, simply retract them; it is that easy!
Deck Upgrades
The simplicity of a deck space can’t be overestimated. Composite decking allows you to extend your living space outdoors with ease. They also offer larger entertaining spaces to combine your indoor living with the outdoors. We offer only the best quality Trex decking to our homeowners so that we build decks that are meant to last.
Add an outdoor kitchen, and your backyard becomes more like a resort than your home. Our decks are all custom-designed with your goals in mind. We aren’t a company that offers cookie-cutter deck designs; we match your property layout with your wants for an outdoor space to make it something that will make you fall in love with your home again.
Outdoor Kitchen
Nothing’s worse than entertaining guests and spending your entire time inside cooking and serving. Life is too short to spend it indoors preparing food. An outdoor kitchen makes entertaining fun for all, even you. An outdoor kitchen is a home addition that really adds value.
The average ROI of an outdoor kitchen is usually a 100% cost recovery, according to the National Association of REALTORS. The typical cost of an outdoor kitchen is about $15,000 and is estimated to recover $15,000 at resale. Beyond that, they have a Joy Score of 9 out of ten, which means 99% pot homeowners reported that an outdoor kitchen both enhanced their lives, and their outdoor enjoyment.
So, Which Home Additions That Add Value Are Right For You?
When people think of a home addition, they often think only of completely interior additions, but they are missing out. A sunroom, screened porch, pergola, or patio cover is a great way to fall in love with your home again without the cost, inconvenience, or chaos that often comes with home additions and remodeling.
South Carolina continues to be a state that enjoys a large influx of people flocking from around the nation, but things have changed. In the current market, homes are no longer selling within the day, and a seller’s market has balanced out, leaving many in South Carolina to pivot from home selling and buying to home loving again.
If you are ready to love it rather than list it, Express Sunrooms of the Carolinas has a perfect home addition that adds value, luxury, and competitiveness to your home, and just good fun. Contact us today to build the outdoor living space of your dreams and love where you live again!
