Released: June 24, 2008

Love the home you’re stuck with

Source: Josh Garskof, Money Magazine (CNN Money)

When prices were soaring, credit was flowing and selling was as easy as jamming a FOR SALE sign into your front lawn, the simplest way to upgrade your home was to sell and get the heck out of it. In other words, move to a bigger and better one.

True, some homeowners spent hundreds of billions of dollars renovating their digs during the boom times. But many saw those renos simply as a necessary step to get their homes ready to trade in.

Well, here’s a crazy idea. Rather than tackling improvements as a way to move on up, why not do them to make yourself happier staying put for a while? You might not have a choice. With home sales down nearly 18% over the past year, it’s a spectacularly lousy time to put your place on the market.

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