Which Home Improvements Pay Off In The Long Run PLUS Improvment vs. Maintenance

Home Improvement
  There are two ways to go about making home improvements. Either you splurge for something purely for the pleasure of having it like the Italian marble bathroom your spouse has been dreaming about or that skylight you've been wanting for the last five years. Then there's the pragmatic approach, buying an energy-efficient hot water heater or repairing a leaky roof because you want to increase your home's market value. 
Know that just because you pour $20,000 into your home doesn't mean that your house is worth $20,000 more. Many homeowners spend on amenities such as phones in every bathroom, a decorative stone wall, or pool that are only relatively minor to the value of the house.

  Exactly how much you'll recoup depends on several factors, including the direction of the housing market, the value of the homes in your neighborhood, when you plan to sell the home and the nature of the project itself. In some housing markets, you could earn more than your investment back on a remodeling project.

 

Examples Good Home Improvements:

Remodeling Your Kitchen

The kitchen is the most important room in the house since it’s where much of the family interaction occurs. If you don’t know where to start, try adding new tile flooring, re-facing old cabinets, and/or updating appliances to new energy efficient models.

Remodeling Your Bathroom

Bathroom renovations can yield a good return. Adding a new bathroom can return as much as 85%, especially if you only have one bathroom to start with. And since it’s more difficult to sell a home with only one bathroom, adding a second bath can make your home significantly easier to sell. Some good improvements include installing double sinks, tile floors and new bath fixtures and faucets.

Other improvements are replacing siding, flooring (replacing carpet with tile or hardwood/laminate), roof, and energy efficient a/c/heat and water heater.

Home Maintenance

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  The Value of Home Maintenance

  Regular home maintenance is key to preserving the value of your house and property. Read

Copyright 2011 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

Click here to read the difference between home improvement and maintenance along with tax benefits

So how do you tell the difference between an improvement and a repair? Here's the basic rule provided by the Internal Revenue Service: A repair keeps a homeowner's property in good operating condition but it does not:
-Materially add to the value of the property
-Substantially prolong its useful life, or make it more useful, see: Treasury Regulations, Subchapter A, Sec. 1.162-4