Many people move into their new home and spend a lot of time and money remodeling and decorating to get the house just the way they want it. Which is fantastic — we want everyone to love where they live.
However, what often happens after that, isn’t so wonderful. People often neglect to do any sort of improvement or maintenance to their homes for several years. Eventually, the home begins to show signs of the lack of attention in things like a loose handrail, leaky faucet, non-working outlet, missing or damaged shingles, or peeling paint.
How Much to Spend on Yearly Home Improvements
I always suggest to clients that they set aside a certain percentage of their home’s value to make some sort of yearly home improvement. A good rule of thumb is to spend one percent of your home’s value on such annual maintenance or home improvements. So if your home is worth $600,000, you’d spend $6,000 on a project each year. Some 
professionals use the $1 per square foot calculations instead, which also makes sense (you can read more on this subject here). Once you’ve settled on an amount, set up a recurring bank transfer into savings to ensure you have the money to spend when the time comes.
You may spend this money on several smaller projects or one large one. Set a calendar reminder for yourself to decide what you plan to do each year, find a contractor if necessary, and schedule it!
The Bottom Line
While your chosen yearly home improvement may not be the most exciting one, it will still add value to your home and save time down the line. We often see clients who are so overwhelmed with all of the work they need to do to prepare their home to sell. Following this plan for yearly home improvements will save a lot of headaches, money, and effort when the time does come to sell your home.
Be sure to check out our tip of the month series as well as our post on the top home improvements you can do to add $100,000 in value to your home.
Want to talk it through or need a recommendation? Reach out today! We are always happy to help.
