Frequently I will sell a house to my clients and they will go in and make plans for a remodel or redesign. Then I will get the call… they will phone me back and say “wow, it’s going to cost so much to do all this work!”. And their immediate thought is, “will I get it back out of my house?”… a completely fair question.

The thing that I would caution you to remember is you’re not planning to flip your house (but that’s a whole different conversation if you are!). But if you’re buying a house and you are going to live in it for an indefinite period of time, my suggestion would be to buy the home, make the plans, and do the renovations so that you can live in the home and enjoy it.

More than likely your house is going to be worth more money because of the upgrades you make to it and your quality of life, while you live in the home, is going to be better. If you’re planning on living in the house a short period of time, you may need to think about the ways in which you spend the money on those improvements. And as always with any improvement, you need to try to make it appropriate to the home, the neighborhood, and the value.