If you need to hire a contractor for a project in or around your home, you want to make sure you hire the right one. Here are some tips to help you do that.
Get recommendations from family or friends. I can recommend contractors and am always grateful for any recommendations you have for me. You can also check with building inspectors and supply houses to see who they recommend.
Continue reading How to Hire a Contractor
Homeowners can raise the basis or cost in their home by money spent on capital improvements. The benefit is that it will lower their gain and may save them taxes when they sell their home.
Improvements must add value to your home, prolong its useful life or adapt it to new uses. Repairs are routine in nature to maintain the value and keep the property in an ordinary, operating condition. They do not raise its basis.
Continue reading Raise the Basis and Lower the GainRemodeling projects are on the rise! Last year the home improvement market grew by over five percent and one in five new homeowners undertook a home improvement project. This year the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) expects home improvement spending to continue to increase by as much as 9.9 percent over last year. Metrostudy’s Residential Remodeling Index (RRI) also predicts growth in home improvement spending. This is good news for job seekers and the economy in general.
There is a significant difference in how the money you spend on your home is treated for income tax purposes. Repairs to maintain your home’s condition are not deductible unlike those made by rental property owners that can be deducted as an operating expense.
On the other hand, capital improvements to a home will increase the basis and affect the gain when you sell which may save taxes.
As part of their 2014 consumer advertising campaign, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® is offering a $10,000 furniture makeover sweepstakes. You could win!
Courtesy of NBC, one random winner will receive a $10,000 check to purchase new furniture and other home furnishings.
The energy-efficient home upgrades tax credit is scheduled to expire on December 31st this year. If you need to make improvements to your home, this could be an incentive to do it before the end of the year. If you have already made qualifying improvements without realizing the tax credit is available, it may seem like a holiday gift you weren’t expecting.
According to a recent survey, these are the features buyers most want in a new home.
If you’re looking to remodel your kitchen, we’ve got good news and bad news.
First, the good stuff. According to trend experts Lita Dirks and Dominick Tringali, you don’t have to shell out major cash to add space. Instead, look to expand what you already have. Read
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