Righteous Renovations! These Home Features Are Proven to Pay Off (6 0f 6)

Rooms: finished basements (No. 2), laundry rooms (No. 8), and dining rooms (No. 11)

Let’s be honest: Most of us struggle to find a home in our price range, let alone one that includes most of the items on our wish list. But that's why finished basements are again in such hot demand: They give owners space they can customize. Want a beer fridge? Done. Pool table? Looky there, you already scratched. An art studio for your kids? Yours for the asking.

“It's all about using all the space we have and not building a bigger home,” says Baker of the American Institute of Architects. Finished basements can be so much "more than just a place we store boxes."

And all of those sleep-deprived parents out there know just how big of a lifesaver a dedicated laundry room can be. The prices of homes with such rooms have jumped 15.6% since 2015.

Dedicated dining rooms are also staging a comeback. Sure, outside of the holidays, most people don't need them. But there's an uptick in homeowners hosting guests instead of going out, so listings including these entertainment spaces have increased 11.6% over the past two years.

“Millennials are viewing their home as a hub for activities, not just [a place to] live and raise their kids,” says Dorsey at the Center for Generational Kinetics.