From time to time, Dave opens up his toolbox to fill us in on a useful tip he uses at DK Handyman. This month, we focus on planning ahead to stretch your budget.
Several customers who were thinking to sell their homes a few years in the future contacted me regarding a variety of things that needed to be fixed around their homes. To fix them all at once was just too costly and they didn’t know how to proceed.
I suggested that they each make a priority list of projects, a budget figure and a frequency plan. As it turned out one customer came up with a monthly plan, another with an every three months budget and another decided upon a visit every two months. Today we are slowly nibbling away at their projects under their timetable, and under a budget they each can handle.
The effect of all this is that when these people sell their homes they will not be facing huge repair bills to get their homes ready for market and the value of their homes will likely be much higher. They will also have a higher chance of selling their homes quickly.
Maintaining your home gradually or even catching up on neglected repairs over time is a great way to get things accomplished and take the bite out of large repair bills. In addition, if you are always working projects, you will likely identify small problems and be able to correct them before they become huge headaches.