What is the best money you have spent on your home?

[Adelle Dazeem]

I can't imagine living anywhere on the peninsula south of SFO and not have A/C. Even in Seattle people are putting in A/C. The number of houses with A/C has gone from 30% to 45% in just 5 years.

We only turn it on maybe 10 days a year, but it's so nice to have it when we need it. It was difficult because our house is an open beam ceiling and there was nowhere to put in the air ducts required. They wanted to close up the ceiling to add the air ducts and I said absolutely NO WAY! So now we have a minor "industrial" look in the back of the house with an air duct feeding new vents into each bedroom. I thought that look would also drive me crazy, but I don't even notice it.

 

[Cadiewampus]

We got rid of all of the carpet upstairs so that was great. Beyond that, really the best money we spent was to refinance. We refinanced earlier this year to a 15 year at 2.00%. I am eligible to retire in 15 years and forced to retire 4 years later so it's something I'll really thank myself for doing later on.

Yep the best thing I ever did was refinance years ago to a 15 year mortgage. Paid the house off 5 years ago at 56. I will say I have found plenty of other ways to spend that money though

 

[Foxhound3857]

Investing in Solar energy. My electric bill pays for itself now.

 

[tasha99]

When my heater broke, I added central air as well. Omg, it was soooo worth it the way the PNW has been heating up and having fires the last several years. We can stay cool, and lock it all up to outside air if the air quality is terrible. Before that, the cooling system was fans in windows. Not a good plan anymore in my area.

 

[prairie_girl]

Paying extra rent for two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

 

[ronandannette]

Paying extra rent for two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Yep. I was raised in a home with only one bathroom and it probably doesn’t seem like much to somebody who’s never experienced it. Even just for a couple, having an extra one is life-changing!!

 

[luv2cheer92]

Yep. I was raised in a home with only one bathroom and it probably doesn’t seem like much to somebody who’s never experienced it. Even just for a couple, having an extra one is life-changing!!

I live alone and when I was buying my house last year, any house that had only one bathroom was an automatic no, mo matter what else it had. Lol. I couldn't imagine only having one, especially if I had others in the home.

For me, it would be my new floors on the first floor, so pretty and much better than the carpet.

 

[tcufrog]

During the lockdown, we painted our master bedroom a serene blue and my DH installed wall-mounted reading sconces. It was a huge improvement over the poop brown previous owners had painted the bedroom. It was even on the ceiling.

 

[MICKIMINI]

Walk in shower!

 

[disykat]

I know others have said it, but I'll agree to - keeping it small and paying off the mortgage early! Our house felt a little tight at times when the kids were still home, but we're reaping the benefits of that now.

We purposely worked to pay it off the year before our oldest went to college. The money we were no longer paying on the mortgage (along with some other crucial planning we did) pretty much put two kids through college.

 

[spiders]

Yep the best thing I ever did was refinance years ago to a 15 year mortgage. Paid the house off 5 years ago at 56. I will say I have found plenty of other ways to spend that money though

56 is the age I'll be forced out. I don't know if we'll stay here after retirement but either way, the house will be paid off and we'll make a cash purchase somewhere else if that's what needs to be done. I've seen a lot of the older folks at work not plan and then see them scrambling to find age waivers and all that garbage. I definitely don't want to become that guy teaching the new people lessons. I don't really understand how it catches them off guard. Have you ever seen the movie Looper? I feel like we're all setup like that...we all know when we hit 56 and we all know what happens then...

 

[prairie_girl]

Yep. I was raised in a home with only one bathroom and it probably doesn’t seem like much to somebody who’s never experienced it. Even just for a couple, having an extra one is life-changing!!

I grew up with one bathroom for six people. It wasn’t til I was about 12-13 that we added a bathroom in the basement. My husband likes to treat the bathroom as his personal library so I got tired of having to wait lol

 

[MillauFr]

We only turn it on maybe 10 days a year, but it's so nice to have it when we need it.

You need it on the smoky days more than the 100 degree days.

 

[Adelle Dazeem]

You need it on the smoky days more than the 100 degree days.

Yeah - I think we will start seeing some smoke from the fires in the next few days. It was really bad last year.

 

[MillauFr]

Yeah - I think we will start seeing some smoke from the fires in the next few days. It was really bad last year.

Yep. Same in Seattle.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

Solar panels. Everyone on our neighborhood app is complaining about their power bill being in the $300 range this last month and mine was $16 (including the $5 connect fee) and I have been running my AC at 70-72 pretty much constantly. Probably wouldn’t have been anything over the connect fee except we have been extremely smoky the last few weeks.

 

[Cadiewampus]

56 is the age I'll be forced out. I don't know if we'll stay here after retirement but either way, the house will be paid off and we'll make a cash purchase somewhere else if that's what needs to be done. I've seen a lot of the older folks at work not plan and then see them scrambling to find age waivers and all that garbage. I definitely don't want to become that guy teaching the new people lessons. I don't really understand how it catches them off guard. Have you ever seen the movie Looper? I feel like we're all setup like that...we all know when we hit 56 and we all know what happens then...

Forced out of what?

 

[barkley]

Also, making the entire house handicapped accessible as it was being built.

great addition!

i often wonder how a housing development that was being built near where we lived back in the early 2000's is doing these days b/c of it's unique take on handicapped accessibility. it was in a town that was very family friendly but also appealed greatly to seniors. the development was designed to provide homes that were large enough to manage a family but weren't as big as the mcmansions that were the norm. the big difference was they were designed for lifelong ownership and had 'aging up' design elements-

wider hallways, doorways and turning radius (from halls into rooms) to facilitate wheelchairs,

hydraulics installed (but unseen) on sections of kitchen island/bathroom counter tops to allow for lowering for wheelchair access,

front, back and garage entrances to the home designed to easily install ramps,

landscaping (concrete walkways, porches and patios) with minimal rises to help with walkers/again facilitate ramps,

landscaping that entailed the most minimal of upkeep,

all bathrooms with handicapped features in place.


i thought it was a spectacular concept, it would be fascinating to see what the turnover sales rate has been like with older owners.

You need it on the smoky days more than the 100 degree days.

Yeah - I think we will start seeing some smoke from the fires in the next few days. It was really bad last year.

it's a miracle!!!! today is the first day in 3 weeks i can see the mountains again. it's been so smoky over here on the east side of the state that it's looked like december-dark, overcast and foggy. we've been in the dangerous air quality for sooooo long. i feel sorry for anyone looking to cool off-high double digits/low triple but none of the pools or splash zones are open due to the air quality. fresh air is supposed to be coming in this weekend-fingers crossed.

 

[aprilgail]

Solar Panels and switching from oil to gas heat!

 

[spiders]

Forced out of what?

Air traffic control. You must be hired before your 31st birthday and then you lose your medical clearance at 56.