Improvements - Getting Bang for Your Buck

I often get asked about which home improvements would bring the best improvement in a home's resale value and I always go to the best place in Canada for their opinion. Canada's national housing agency, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has a website loaded with great information on things like this. In particular, this link, will take you to their page showing you what you can expect for a return on your renovation dollar. (FYI - bathrooms and kitchens are still #1!)

Thinking of a Furnace Maintenance Contract? Think again!

So you bought a house with an older furnace, and just to be on the safe side, you get a service/maintenance contract for peace of mind. Eventually you buy a new furnace and it comes with it's own warranties etc. and therefore, no longer need that maintenance agreement. Did you realize that you might not be able to get out of that agreement?

There's another worthwhile column by Ellen Roseman in today's Toronto Star that's definitely made me think twice about ever considering a service contract for my furnace. Or, at the very least, I would be very careful about who it's with *and* the specific criteria.

In some cases, even moving to another home isn't enough to void the agreement.
I'm not suggesting that we don't need regular/preventative maintenance on things like a furnace - warranties often indicate that it's required to keep the warranty in effect. But I'm able to manage the reminders etc. myself in my calendar - I don't need them to call me and I'd rather pay the fee for the actual service calls than continually shell out "insurance" money.

As my Dad always use to remind me "Money-in-pocket will always be in style".

Thinking about a reverse mortgage?

There was an interesting article in today's Toronto Sun about reverse mortgage. Click here to read the complete article.

They've been around for a long time in several other countries including England and are just now starting to raise their profile here.

My thoughts on them? At this point, I would consider one only as a last resort. There are high set-up fees and the interest rates are higher than mortgage rates. I would talk to my lender *and* my lawyer for other possible alternatives before going down this path.