I might as well be a contrarian!!!


I am directing this post to those who already have a home.

In five years when the housing cycle has changed again everyone will be moaning "Why didn't I...etc". Why didn't I buy, why didn't I sell, why didn't I move, why didn't I take advantage of ultra low interest rates, why didn't I buy rental property. I should have, I could have, I would have. Hind sight is always 20-20.
So let's talk about what to do now with the home we have. And then when we are ready in the near future we can be at an advantage over all that waited and did nothing.
What happened to that desire to own a home, not just own a house, no matter what. Call me a romantic, but you raised your family in your home, you felt secure in your home, you went to great lengths to maintain your home. You sacrificed other wants and urges to keep that home. You knew if could keep that home then everything would be okay. We can't think of our home as our ready cash account. That concept has proven disastrous. However we can begin to prepare our home to reap greater rewards if we polish and improve that which we have. We all move eventually. Your home was built by plans created by an architect. Your future move should also be built with a plan. Colder weather is starting in many parts of the country, weatherizing is being done where it is needed. When that is done and you have moved to the inside of your home for the duration of winter take the first step of your plan. Clear away some desk space or open a new page on your computer. Start with a list of the rooms in your home. Then create a separate page for each room. Prioritize each room according to amount of use. Kitchen is probably the busiest, the least is probably the basement or garage.Now go to the least used and open that page and start writing about what needs to be done to make it look like it was just added to your home. It may need "decluttering", maybe paint, maybe shelving would help, carpet, anything to polish it. Develop a budget for each room and don't exceed it compared to the rest of your home. Start in the least used, because you will not be interrupted as much. By finishing one room at a time you can shift all the items from the next room to the finished room. And continue on until you are happy with the results. Then before you know it years have passed and you didn't rush your repairs and your home is ready to sell for the most money compared to any in your area. Doing nothing to improve your situation is depressing, anyone can splash paint on a wall and explode the room in color. Do something and then stand back and smile at your accomplishment.