Even if you are not intending on selling your home in the near future you should have a schedule of repairs, maintenance and improvements. This is a great exercise to do when purchasing the home.

All of your improvements and renovations will be highlighted and reviewed when you eventually sell. It is a good idea to keep that in mind when making the decisions of what to do and in which order. You don't want to have to replace the knob and tube wiring after you have installed new tiles.

Any renovation that is too customized to your personal taste may not get you much of a return when you sell. I was once asked why I didn't think a seller could get the $100K back from the kitchen renovation he had done. I pointed out that all of the cupboard doors were monogrammed with his initials in etched glass. It would be a very small market of people looking to buy in this neighbourhood with the same initials and even smaller group who would want those initials displayed all over their kitchen.

Your home is an investment and it needs to be treated as such. Go ahead and do what you want. However, if it is not in common taste you may not get your money back. Therefore, all you need to do is account for it. That really cool pink wood stain may actually cost you more than anticipated.

Whoever bought the house with the initials everywhere had to re-do all of the kitchen cupboards, so on top of the cost of the original renovation the seller had to accept the discounted cost of re-doing the kitchen when he sold his house.

Monogramming is an extreme example, the point I want to make is that as soon as you pick a colour or material that the average person in your target market may or may not like you could affect your sale price negatively.

This same idea is why a lot of agents ask a seller to "de-personalise" a home before it goes on the market. Some agents think this means that you need to remove all family pictures, something I do not agree with. Although family photos are definitely ?custom? they can be used to create a sense of calm and warmth in the home. When the photographs are poorly displayed or too numerous they become overwhelming and distracting. One of the easiest renovations you can do is to simply remove all the extra items you have collected over the years.

Whether you have bright paint colours or broadloom, monogrammed etchings, too many pictures or chach-kas, extra over stuffed furniture or an abundance of toys, you want to make sure that your home is not too customised to your lifestyle when you go to sell.

I am always happy to come in and let you know what my thoughts are on a renovation whether it is worth it or not. Even if you are not planning on selling in the near future I would be happy to come in and advise on how a renovation could impact the realistic value of your home.