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

[reecejackox]

The kitchen , great kitchen

 

[lorimt]

Covered patio

 

[barkley]

whole house generator. it is plumbed into a 1000 gallon propane tank and has it's on electrical panel so that when it detects that power has gone off it automatically switches on. it waits till power is consistently restored for a set period of time before it switches off. we've had week plus long power outages multiple times over the years since we had it put in. best home improvement ever.

 

[spiders]

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.

 

[barkley]

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.

AWESOME! we've been in our home 14 years and were able to refi to a lower 15 year rate a couple of years into ownership only we continued to pay each month at the former higher 30 year payment amount and throwing anything extra that came our way at it so we ended up paying it off in just about 7 years. i never imagined i would become addicted to plugging numbers into a mortgage payoff calculator you will thank yourself immensely having it paid in full for retirement!

 

[EMom]

Not the best value for dollar, but I love a hidden pull out trash drawer and the extra pull out drawers we added in the kitchen. And having my own separate garage.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

The first summer we were in this house we had two power outages of more then 48 hours. I asked my new neighbors if these sort of outages were common, and the resounding response was, "Yes." First improvement we put into the house was a generator. Not a whole house, but it covers our fridge, the furnace (lighting), the sump pump, a couple cooking options, and some other key systems. It's been useful before, but we had another rash of outages this summer. Best money I've spent on this place thus far.

 

[Meriweather]

paying off the mortgage

And my great kitchen

 

[Adelle Dazeem]

Putting in central a/c a few years ago! I live in the Silicon Valley area of California and it doesn't typically get too hot and most older homes do not have central a/c. However, after living through the summer of 2006 when it was 95+ in my house, I demanded we make some changes. Our home is a mid century modern style and had a tar and gravel roof - there is no attic or insulation. It's a flat roof home. We invested in a foam roof to repel the heat and it helped a lot, but it wasn't enough so we put in central a/c about 4 years ago and it makes me so happy!!

ETA: We are now looking at new flooring to be installed in the next 6 weeks or so. I am so excited. I'm sure that will be the second best money we have spent on the house! I'm just not looking forward to moving everything around to get the floors installed. We have too much crap in the house.

 

[luvnwdwgal]

Hardwood floors and a gas fireplace that we put in a couple years ago.

 

[PollyannaMom]

solar panels

 

[VandVsmama]

getting upgraded insulation in the attic when house was built
having garage insulated
extending the patio in the back yard
tile flooring in all rooms except bedrooms & DH's office
upgraded A/C unit with a higher SEER rating
installing ceiling fans in every bedroom (we're in AZ)
installing ceiling fan for seating area on covered back patio

next on the upgrade list are:
- installing gutters & a rainwater harvesting system
- U/V sunscreens on all the south & west-facing windows

 

[kdonnel]

Floored over the foyer and the family room gaining an additional 600-700 sqft that was highly used by the kids and their friends.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Hardwood floors on our first floor living areas (next big project will be hardwood in the 2 first floor bedrooms) and putting in a really nice bar in the basement family room area.

 

[Moliphino]

Replacing the gross old red carpet in the living room with hardwood floors.

 

[bjscheel]

The addition. Having all three bedrooms close together upstairs was great when the kids were little. When they were teens it was less great. Also there were 0 closets. We put a master bedroom downstairs and extended the living room. Then we turned the smallest upstairs bedroom into two huge closets for the girls and they had the upstairs to themselves.

 

[disneyfam]

Taking out a home equity loan and purchasing DVC in 2009. It was cheaper than financing and we could write off the interest.

 

[MillauFr]

Putting in central a/c a few years ago! I live in the Silicon Valley area of California and it doesn't typically get too hot and most older homes do not have central a/c.

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.

 

[ronandannette]

When we bought our place 6 years ago we did a complete cosmetic reno top-to-bottom; new flooring, paint, base & casings, door hardware, bath fixtures and lighting throughout and a minor kitchen remodel with new appliances and adding an Island and computer work station. It’s perfectly to my taste and we love it.

The best money spent though, for me, isn’t something that adds actual value to the house. It’s hiring professional packers and movers whenever we relocate. They have always made the process so quick, efficient and stress free. Absolutely worth every penny!

 

[Stratman50th]

Paying for it as it was being built so we would be mortgage free. No worries about having a roof over your head. Also, making the entire house handicapped accessible as it was being built. We have had both my parents and my wife's mother in home hospice and saw what a difficult task it was if the house wasn't made for it.