With the economy slowly turning, many home owners are opting to remodel vs relocate. Money spent in home improvement is not lost as the value of the home goes up with each renovation. This is a great website to show what you can expect realize in increased value with any remodel.
What I like about this website is that it breaks down data by region and city. Here are the data for Portland Oregon.
http://www.remodeling.hw.net/2010/costvsvalue/division/pacific/city/portland--or.aspx
