It's always amazing to me how much money people are willing to throw at remodeling projects. Most people pay about market prices for real estate, making it unlikely they could resell quickly and get all the money back at closing. It's a better strategy to spend less, get good value for purchases and wait at least a few years before Space 1999 move again.

There are lots of ways to get good value and save money on your remodeling projects. In many areas you have to be willing to eat the cost of granite counter tops when you resell. Maybe tiles would be the better choice. Clean homes with an uncluttered, Zen like appearance resell pretty well. The best insurance you can get that your property will hold its value is data recovery service picking the right neighborhood. If you can get a house in the right area that needs work it can still do well.

What's the right way to do the work? Here are just a few of my favorites.

1. Keep it simple. Avoid wild paint treatments and over the top custom decorating. Simple, uncluttered and restful will be easier to live with and better at resale, too. Throwing money at a project is REALLY Elephant Man especially if you have to resale quickly. Restraint may be your best bet.

2. Decide what will make your house better for you to live comfortably and concentrate on those items first. It may sound self indulgent, but, hey, it's YOUR house. Built in storage could make you a lot more comfortable. So could intelligent reuse of other people's discards. One of the cutest houses I ever saw was a great conglomeration of reused materials and resold in one day in a depressed market. Shop around for sales and/or good used stuff. Stuff that might end up in a landfill could work just fine.

3. If you need a second bath, consider adding one to your existing home instead of moving. It will make your 1 or 1&1/2 bath home more comfortable for you and more marketable when and if you want to move. Moving is a very difficult thing. Only do it if someone makes you.

4. Plan your projects down to the last details. You want to find out what the complications may be and make good decisions about how to deal with them. A good finish carpenter may be able to deal with a lot of things, a good plumber can make sure everything meets code with new plumbing, a good electrician can tell you whether your wiring and breaker box can take the load of your new kitchen. Ask to see licenses and check for financial responsibility.

5. Imagine tearing out your kitchen and then finding out the cabinets you want will take 9 months to ship from Europe. Meanwhile you have no kitchen and you now need to add the cost of all those months of eating out to your total costs. What's wrong with domestic items anyway? Just tell folks you imported the rock half way around the world. How would they know? Don't do it. Importing is not green or good value!!!

6. Have all work possible inspected to make sure it meets or exceeds code in your area. It may be your best protection against contractor incompetence. Your local municipality or county can help you with this. Pay your contractor when it passes both your and the municipality's inspection.

7. Demolition may be something you can do to save money on your project. Preparing work areas for trades and cleaning up after they are done may help, too. Just be careful and don't get hurt. We know a watchmaker who has always been life assurance quotes in wood working, but doesn't do it. If he saws off a finger he could end his career. Those tools and ladders can be dangerous.

8. Learn enough about good building to recognize when someone is not good at what they are doing. You can download building code from the Internet for your local area. Download and study up. It could save you big money.

9. Have all materials and instant auto insurance on site before work starts. Many projects take forever just WAITING. If your special bathtub is not on site when the installers come, you could wait forever for the next opportunity. This is especially true if you are building in an out of the way building site. Many wood floors need time to acclimate to the humidity or lack of it in the house where it will be installed. Plan as much as you can. I once refaced a kitchen in a weekend because we had everything we needed to finish the job, doors, trim, paint...everything. Planning matters. Many decorators and contractors don't plan well. Save yourself the wait and frustration with good planning.

10. Use home store's affiliated installers for some of the work you have done. They have to give a level of satisfaction to keep their jobs. It may be a lot less risky than hiring some friend of a friend who calls himself a "professional". A lot of people who are working at building are not as good at it as I am and I don't call myself a pro. I am a better painter than many professionals and often do it to save money on my own projects.

There is only one more thing I want to tell you about what ever you do updating your house. That is that you need to be sure not to mess up your floor plan. Make sure it will pass the appraiser test at resale. Did you know that in most municipalities in the US, a bedroom must have egress and a closet? You also don't want to walk through another bedroom to get to a bedroom. So study up and avoid messing up.

Paula Stone is a black belt home remodeler and former Realtor. She works with her husband Ron in his mortgage business. Their website is full of Free information about the mortgage process and real estate. Visit it at www.alabama-mortgage-specialists.com" >Alabama Mortgage Loan