How should I spend my home-improvement budget? – It seems now days everyone has an interest in home improvement, just flip through cable TV channels and you will probably find a home improvement show to watch. It is not hard to understand why home owners are interested in home improvement, the right improvements can increase a homes value tremendously and give the home more enjoyability to the home owners. The question that always seems to pop up is “how do i spend my home improvement budget?”
The average American will move every 4-6 years so always take resale value and home appeal into account when planning any home improvement project. People all have varying tastes so avoid doing anything to extreme that may hurt resale value and is to difficult to undo, but it is your home so express yourself just keep it within reason.
No matter where you live a kitchen or bathroom remodel will add the most value and appeal to your home. These are expensive projects to undertake and many bathroom and kitchen remodels will cost over $10,000. Although small cosmetic improvements like faucet upgrades and new cabinet hardware can increase the appeal of a kitchen and bathroom for little money.
New flooring is also a nice home improvement that adds value, however new carpet will not add as much as value and appeal as adding hardwood floors will. Many of todays laminate hardwood floors can be installed DIY by the homeowner relatively easily. If you are unsure how to install hardwood flooring check with your local home improvement store, many offer classes on hardwood floor installation.
Not all home improvement projects have to be expensive or large to make a difference. Some smaller projects can include improving or adding landscaping, interior and exterior painting, resealing a driveway and upgrading lighting fixtures. These are small projects that can be done in a weekend or a few hours. These home improvements all will add curb appeal and increase the value of your home at the same time.
The things you will want to avoid are adding items that require maintenance and ongoing expense such as hot tubs, saunas and swimming pools. While one of these items may appeal to you they may not appeal to a large percentage of buyers and will not increase your homes value by much, in fact they may cause your home to sit on the market longer if you ever decide to sell A swimming pool is a good example of a negative home improvement , swimming pools require additional homeowners insurance due to liability for injury/death, they are expensive and complicated to maintain and can be dangerous to small children and some pets.
With the proper planning and research spending your home improvement budget correctly is an easy task to accomplish. By using the Internet, television shows and your local home improvement stores as references and you are almost guaranteed to choose the right improvement for your home.
By: Darin Sewell
Posts Tagged ‘Home Improvement Projects’
How Should I Spend My Home Improvement Budget
March 17th, 2010Quick Guide To Home Improvement Grants
March 16th, 2010
With real estate being so hard to sell nowadays many people are content just staying in their original house. For this reason home owners are more open to embarking on home improvement projects to make their house more livable. Yet, they usually encounter a major snag in their endeavors, namely, finding a way to come up with the funds. With home improvement projects ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, many home owners feel that they just cannot afford to fix up their house. Fortunately, with the help of home improvement grants, they no longer need to feel that way.
What is a Remodeling Grant?
This type of financing is a sum of money given by the government for the purposes of fixing up one’s home. They are better than a loan because they do not need to be paid back. Yet, many people think that because a grant is associated with the government, they must go through a drawn-out bureaucratic process in order to get approved. While this may be the case for other types of federal grants, it isn’t so for home improvement grants.
Why is this? It’s because usually home improvement grants are given if:
1) a house is deemed to be inhospitable without renovation,
2) a person needs to renovate because of a disability or
3) a person is aged 62 or older.
A professional inspector is sent out to the house in any of these scenarios to determine if repairs or renovation is needed.
So, the downside to home improvement grants is obvious. A person can’t get one if they want to add luxuries such as a pool to their home. However, there are still many homes in America that require repair work that would cost more than the owners can afford and these grants come in to their own in such circumstances. Common problems that are covered by a home improvement grant include plumbing issues, mold, roofing and insect extermination.
By: Phil Nichol
Inexpensive Projects – A Cheapskate’s Guide to Home Improvement
March 7th, 2010
In most cases, home improvement projects are rather costly. A lot of people tap their savings to be able to get some home improvements done. This can be very harmful to ones pockets, leaving you short of a comfortable reserve in the event of an unforeseen expense. In some cases, people resort to getting home improvement loans which can sometimes drag your budget off track and getting you more buried in debt than ever.
However, you should not be discouraged. There are alternative ways of doing home improvements that don’t require spending a truck load of money. Your money is a resource that’s very important and should be spent wisely making sure you have enough to take care of the more important things. For example, your children’s education and emergency situations like unexpected illnesses.
Here are some tips on how you, as a homeowner, can do home improvement projects the cheap way.
1. Know what you want
Many people hire contractors to do home improvement jobs for them precisely because they do not have a clear idea of what they want to do with their homes. Consulting these professionals can really hurt your pockets only to find out later that you don’t want what they have done to your house.
You can read home improvement magazines, watch some television shows regarding home improvements or even look around in other people’s homes to get some ideas regarding what you would want to do with your house. These free ideas can be put on paper in drawings or in short descriptions. Now you have some direction.
2. Feasibility
There are many ways of improving your home. You should think about the feasibility of home improvement projects before undertaking them. Not all projects will make sense for all homes. Are you willing to commit the required time, effort, finances, and temporary inconvenience for the proposed changes? Nothing is a greater waste of resources than half finished projects that weren’t practical to begin with.
3. Rearranging
Changing the arrangements in your house can be considered as home improvement projects. Putting your furniture in good and new positions can be a good way to change the overall ambiance of the house.
4. Change the color scheme
Colors play a huge role in terms of defining the home’s character. If you are getting bored with the overall ambiance of your house, you can do some repainting jobs yourself. You can also involve the other members of the family and this will make the job easier and more fun. Try wallpapering for some interesting and fun effects.
5. Be green
Putting plants into the overall scheme of home improvement is an awesome way to give the house a fresher look. Plants add warmth and freshness to every home. Even artificial flowers or fruit bowls add a richness to your homes living areas. A few well placed shrubs around the exterior will do wonders for the overall curb appeal.
These are just a few tips on how to achieve a better home using less of your budget. However, a cheaper way doesn’t necessarily equate to a less effective way. The most important thing is that you enjoy your house and feel comfortable with it.
By: Randy Rater
