If I Had a Hammer...

If you are planning on selling your home over the next two years, now may be the time to act. Demand is high, supply is low and many homeowners are benefiting from an almost auction atmosphere with several buyers fighting for their house in the current multi-bid environment. Higher prices and less stringent contingencies are making it easier for the seller and their family.

Why Rates Matter

 Even a small increase in interest rates drastically impacts your budget.
 Securing a mortgage now while rates are still low means you can get more house for your money.  Spend your money on your dream home, not on interest.

Priorities

At the same time, Tim Rood, chairman of the business advisory firm The Collingwood Group, explained that real estate is:

 “…one of the last legitimate wealth creation opportunities…The leveraged return if you put down 10 percent on a house, the trajectory of appreciation lately is you’re going to get your money back inside of a year and then after that 5 to 10 percent appreciation rates. It's phenomenal."

Extracting Teasures from the "Trash" of Home Rennovations

 Grist.com's "Ask Umbra" column provides some great suggestions for re-cycling the byproducts of home renovations:

....But if you don’t have a new home for it, someone else probably does (especially if you slap a “vintage” label on it). Renovators may be able to sell their old pieces on eBay or Craigslist to other thrifty builders – so if your neighbors have some particularly cool trash, it’s worth a shot.
 An even better option might be donating their unwanted tubs, lights, and flooring, though: This helps support worthy causes and may translate into a hefty tax write-off.
The biggie here is ReStore, Habitat for Humanity’s nationwide chain of resale shops for building materials, furniture, and the like. These outlets accept donations of all kinds of stuff, either for drop-off or pickup, as long as it’s in good shape.  Other local organizations or secondhand outfits might also accept the salvage from remodeling projects, so it’s worthwhile to ask around.
Bonus: Keeping supplies in circulation means other builders have access to local goodies, reducing shipping and transport costs for their projects. Yet another one of my favorite things! This robust secondhand market underscores why it’s important to do your home makeovers carefully, by the way. Smashing cabinets with a sledgehammer might sound like fun for a few minutes, I suppose, but carefully removing them for resale yields years of décor satisfaction for someone else. This practice even has a name: deconstruction, as opposed to demolition, and it can be applied to everything from counters to plumbing fixtures to roofing to molding. You can hire professionals who specialize in just this kind of mindful renovation (and local ReStore outlets can often hook you up with their own deconstruction crews).