02 Sep 09 Understand What To Spend Your Money on in Home Improvement

Home improvement is one area where you may or may not get your money back when you sell your home. Many times what one homeowner sees as home improvement is only something the next homeowner may have to undo in order to help the home meet his own needs.

Persons planning to live in the same home for years do not have to worry about whether their projects increase or decrease the value of the house. However, if your home is a transitional home to a larger home or better neighborhood, then you will need to carefully consider the projects that you attempt at that home.

One thing that you can do to improve your home on a budget is to paint. If you are able to do this project on your own, you can make a real difference in the appearance of your home and can save a large amount of money. Paint in itself is relatively inexpensive. The project may require that you do some scraping of loose paint and priming to prepare the surface for painting. Be sure to invest in drop cloths and to wipe up any spills immediately.

Paint colors should be neutral. Choosing an outrageous color will devalue your home to prospective buyers. All they can see is the work involved in covering up those outrageous colors and they will not be willing to pay top dollar for your home.

If you improvement is flooring, then you will also want to choose something that is long wearing and in a neutral color. Thus, the flooring update becomes an asset to your home rather than a liability.

While the following upgrades may have little effect on the dollars you receive when you sell your home, they can add to your comfort while you live there.

Make sure that your home is adequately insulated. This invisible improvement adds greatly to your comfort and lowers your heating and cooling bills. In fact you may be able to recover the cost of insulation simply through these savings in just a few seasons.

A second upgrade that is more visible is replacing older windows with new vinyl windows. The newer windows are double paned and offer insulation to the glass surfaces of your home. Vinyl means that they never have to be painted and always work smoothly.

A home is a large investment. Carefully choosing the improvements you make will help your home to retain its value.

April Kerr owns blog Finer Living which has information on bamboo flooring and landscaping stone pavers plus lots more

Tags: diy, flooring, home, home improvement, homeowner, house, House & Home, insulation, paint, real estate, windows