MAINTENANCE
Regular maintenance is a necessary expense when you are a homeowner. It is one of those things where you either pay a little time and money on a regular basis or you end up paying a lot more down the road. Avoiding regular maintenance can lead to major repairs, expensive replacement or a major renovation if damage is caused. All the major systems in your home should be cleaned, checked, and repaired if necessary, at least a couple of times per year. Special attention should be paid to roofs, furnaces, smoke detectors, chimney flues, plumbing, drainage, and hot water tanks. These are all items that affect your enjoyment and the safety of your home. Unfortunately, they are also items that buyers expect to be in good working condition. Buyers will never say "I think I'll pay more for this home because it has a new roof". They will, however, always subtract more than the cost of a new roof from your asking price if it looks like the home will need a new one. So both for the enjoyment and re-sale value of your home, don't neglect those little maintenance projects.

RENOVATE WITH RE-SALE IN MIND
One of the benefits of owning our own home is that you can fix it up exactly the way you want it. Your renovating projects will be done based on your needs, your tastes, and of course, your budget. However, try to keep in mind what the value of those renovations might be to a future buyer. If you aren't planning to move for a long time, it is obviously of less concern and the current needs of your family will be a higher priority. If a move within the next five years is even a remote possibility, only do those improvements that will increase the value of your home. And don't do renovations that will over-improve your home for your area. As nice as it may be, buyers aren't willing to reimburse you for your million dollar home if it's next to an industrial area. Renovations should be done to maintain market competitiveness, not to add luxury features that will price your home beyond that of your neighbours.

Not all renovation projects are equally attractive to prospective home buyers and it is rare that you will recoup all of your investment, especially if you are hiring contractors to do the work. If you can do a lot of it yourself, great, but if you can tell it's homemade, it has no value! As we mention in our Preparing Your Home section, the best return will be on cleaning, painting and elbow grease. The Appraisal Institute of Canada has provided the following guidelines as to the payback range of typical renovations: