Comments on: How to Save The Environment, Your Kitchen and Your Pocket Book! http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/how-to-save-the-environment-your-kitchen-and-your-pocket-book/ Investing and Personal Finance Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:11:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: The 123rd Carnival of Personal Finance (The Boo! editinon) | The Dough Roller http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/how-to-save-the-environment-your-kitchen-and-your-pocket-book/comment-page-1/#comment-1964 The 123rd Carnival of Personal Finance (The Boo! editinon) | The Dough Roller Sat, 10 Nov 2007 15:28:01 +0000 http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/how-to-save-the-environment-your-kitchen-and-your-pocket-book/#comment-1964 [...] How to Save the Environment, Your Kitchen and Your Pocket Book (@ Quest For Four Pillars): “A blog action day post which tries to analyse the need for extensive renovations when perhaps a smaller makeover makes more sense.” [...] [...] How to Save the Environment, Your Kitchen and Your Pocket Book (@ Quest For Four Pillars): “A blog action day post which tries to analyse the need for extensive renovations when perhaps a smaller makeover makes more sense.” [...]

]]> By: FourPillars http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/how-to-save-the-environment-your-kitchen-and-your-pocket-book/comment-page-1/#comment-1235 FourPillars Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:30:49 +0000 http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/how-to-save-the-environment-your-kitchen-and-your-pocket-book/#comment-1235 It's a tough call with renos and adding value - anyone who tells you they "know" exactly how to add value is full of crap. Sometimes you have to follow the mob as well with resale - stone counters seem to be trendy to the point that some people look for granite counters in the kitchen and will ignore the flickering lights in the rest of the house. Mike It’s a tough call with renos and adding value – anyone who tells you they “know” exactly how to add value is full of crap.

Sometimes you have to follow the mob as well with resale – stone counters seem to be trendy to the point that some people look for granite counters in the kitchen and will ignore the flickering lights in the rest of the house.

Mike

]]> By: Mr. Cheap http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/how-to-save-the-environment-your-kitchen-and-your-pocket-book/comment-page-1/#comment-1234 Mr. Cheap Mon, 15 Oct 2007 17:08:40 +0000 http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/how-to-save-the-environment-your-kitchen-and-your-pocket-book/#comment-1234 I'm worried I may have come across as more "pro reno" then I actually am (I'm far more in the "pro choice" camp and personally tend to fall in the "live with it how it is" position ;-) ). You make a good point that it's mostly the "high demand" areas that would reward you more than a $1 per $1 spent on renos... I’m worried I may have come across as more “pro reno” then I actually am (I’m far more in the “pro choice” camp and personally tend to fall in the “live with it how it is” position ;-) ).

You make a good point that it’s mostly the “high demand” areas that would reward you more than a $1 per $1 spent on renos…

]]> By: FourPillars http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/how-to-save-the-environment-your-kitchen-and-your-pocket-book/comment-page-1/#comment-1232 FourPillars Mon, 15 Oct 2007 15:00:04 +0000 http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/how-to-save-the-environment-your-kitchen-and-your-pocket-book/#comment-1232 Telly - that's great to hear! While I accept that there is no "one right answer" regarding renovation I think some people make the mistake of assuming that if a room (esp kitchen & bath) doesn't look good then it needs to be gutted and redone. In some cases this might be true but in other cases you can often just fix/change the one or two things you really hate about it, apply paint and the room will be much better. In my opinion when it comes to adding value to your house, the key is improvement - not necessarily ending up with the best kitchen (or whatever room) possible. Mike Telly – that’s great to hear!

While I accept that there is no “one right answer” regarding renovation I think some people make the mistake of assuming that if a room (esp kitchen & bath) doesn’t look good then it needs to be gutted and redone. In some cases this might be true but in other cases you can often just fix/change the one or two things you really hate about it, apply paint and the room will be much better.

In my opinion when it comes to adding value to your house, the key is improvement – not necessarily ending up with the best kitchen (or whatever room) possible.

Mike

]]> By: telly http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/how-to-save-the-environment-your-kitchen-and-your-pocket-book/comment-page-1/#comment-1230 telly Mon, 15 Oct 2007 13:24:21 +0000 http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/how-to-save-the-environment-your-kitchen-and-your-pocket-book/#comment-1230 Great post Mike - my husband will especially enjoy it. He hates clutter but also hates filling the dumps with more 'stuff'. When we bought our house 3 years ago we absolutely abhorred both the kitchen and the bathroom. After adding a 2nd bathroom in the unfinished basement, we had planned to totally gut the upstairs bathroom (it's tiled floor up to and including the ceiling) but I added some nice fake wood blinds, a new large framed mirror, a few small framed prints and voila...most of the ugly tile is covered up. :) It's amazing how used to things you get that you once thought were ugly. It's why I suggest doing the renos after you've moved in...if you don't get to them, all the better! Great post Mike – my husband will especially enjoy it. He hates clutter but also hates filling the dumps with more ‘stuff’.

When we bought our house 3 years ago we absolutely abhorred both the kitchen and the bathroom. After adding a 2nd bathroom in the unfinished basement, we had planned to totally gut the upstairs bathroom (it’s tiled floor up to and including the ceiling) but I added some nice fake wood blinds, a new large framed mirror, a few small framed prints and voila…most of the ugly tile is covered up. :)

It’s amazing how used to things you get that you once thought were ugly. It’s why I suggest doing the renos after you’ve moved in…if you don’t get to them, all the better!

]]> By: FourPillars http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/how-to-save-the-environment-your-kitchen-and-your-pocket-book/comment-page-1/#comment-1229 FourPillars Mon, 15 Oct 2007 12:46:27 +0000 http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/how-to-save-the-environment-your-kitchen-and-your-pocket-book/#comment-1229 Mr. Cheap - excellent point although the post was more "pro environment" rather than "pro house value". A lot of it depends on the area - I'll be posting on my numerous "house value" theories in the future but the situation you describe is probably accurate in a high demand area (where most people don't live) where the demand for everything "high end" might exist. One argument against your point is that often buyers don't know the true cost of the renovation and will underestimate the value - so even if you do spend $25k on a new kitchen - a buyer might only give it a value of $15k - $20k. MDJ - I'm not really sure since I've only ever had laminate. In our current house I think we have about 20 linear feet of laminate which cost about $600 (not installed). Installation is very easy. Mr. Cheap – excellent point although the post was more “pro environment” rather than “pro house value”. A lot of it depends on the area – I’ll be posting on my numerous “house value” theories in the future but the situation you describe is probably accurate in a high demand area (where most people don’t live) where the demand for everything “high end” might exist.
One argument against your point is that often buyers don’t know the true cost of the renovation and will underestimate the value – so even if you do spend $25k on a new kitchen – a buyer might only give it a value of $15k – $20k.

MDJ – I’m not really sure since I’ve only ever had laminate. In our current house I think we have about 20 linear feet of laminate which cost about $600 (not installed). Installation is very easy.

]]> By: MillionDollarJourney http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/how-to-save-the-environment-your-kitchen-and-your-pocket-book/comment-page-1/#comment-1228 MillionDollarJourney Mon, 15 Oct 2007 12:32:21 +0000 http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/how-to-save-the-environment-your-kitchen-and-your-pocket-book/#comment-1228 This is a little off topic, but any idea how much more a granite is than say laminate? This is a little off topic, but any idea how much more a granite is than say laminate?

]]> By: Mr. Cheap http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/how-to-save-the-environment-your-kitchen-and-your-pocket-book/comment-page-1/#comment-1227 Mr. Cheap Mon, 15 Oct 2007 12:08:55 +0000 http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/how-to-save-the-environment-your-kitchen-and-your-pocket-book/#comment-1227 Great post! I definitely agree with the idea of considering the value of what you're pulling out when you replace something. The one thing I found when I first got into real estate that surprised me was that things are often worth more than their cost. E.g. If you pulled out an old kitchen worth $10,000 put in new kitchen for $25,000 it *might* increase the value of the house by $40,000. The explaination for this that I came up with, is there is a "pain in the ass" factor that people will pay to avoid. Having someone else go through all the pain of a kitchen renovation (then being able to move in and enjoy the sparkling modern kitchen), is worth more than the remodeling cost (at least this is the argument renovators will use ;-) ). I don't think this is an absolute ("anything I spend money on will increase the value of my house!" is a silly way to justify putting money into renos), HOWEVER I think there *are* situations where you *can* improve the value of you house beyond the cost of the alterations (this is the whole basis of "flipping"). I agree completely with the environmental aspect (and I think the financial one USUALLY holds true). Great post! I definitely agree with the idea of considering the value of what you’re pulling out when you replace something. The one thing I found when I first got into real estate that surprised me was that things are often worth more than their cost.

E.g. If you pulled out an old kitchen worth $10,000 put in new kitchen for $25,000 it *might* increase the value of the house by $40,000.

The explaination for this that I came up with, is there is a “pain in the ass” factor that people will pay to avoid. Having someone else go through all the pain of a kitchen renovation (then being able to move in and enjoy the sparkling modern kitchen), is worth more than the remodeling cost (at least this is the argument renovators will use ;-) ).

I don’t think this is an absolute (“anything I spend money on will increase the value of my house!” is a silly way to justify putting money into renos), HOWEVER I think there *are* situations where you *can* improve the value of you house beyond the cost of the alterations (this is the whole basis of “flipping”).

I agree completely with the environmental aspect (and I think the financial one USUALLY holds true).

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