Use Your Tax Refund Wisely - March 2009
Tax refund time is here and now is a great time to put your refund to good use by improving your existing home or purchasing a new one. Right now could be the time to fulfill your dreams of owning a custom home or a remodel of your existing home.
The first part of the process is to have plans created. At just 75 cents per square foot, plans for a new 2,000 square foot home (designed especially to fit your needs and lifestyle) would cost only $1,500. Already own a home, but would like to do some custom remodeling? Plans for a 1,000 square foot addition would cost only $750.
Once you are armed with plans, visit with your contractors of choice and request pricing. Feel free to contact Kace Allen Designs for a list of preferred builders or advice on looking for your own contractor. This can be one of the most important steps you take. The wrong contractor can cause you headaches and problems beyond your wildest dreams while the right one can make your project enjoyable from start to finish.
Now is a great time to build or remodel a home, the costs of construction are much lower than in recent years, meaning you get much more for your money. All the material costs associated with building, from materials to labor, are lower than they have been for decades.
Kace Allen Designs works hard to keep the cost of your project down further by making sure material waste is kept to a minimum. By designing your home to make the best use of standard material sizes, we help you get more for your dollar and throw fewer scraps in the landfill. If you have to pay for the whole board, you should use the whole board.
Already own a home but want to take advantage of the low costs? A recent local trend is converting an existing single-family home into a duplex. I have had some clients purchase a single family home that was zoned for multi-family housing by the city, and then had me design an addition to turn it into a duplex for the additional rental income.
Whether you live in one side and rent the other, or use both units strictly for rental income, it is a better return on your dollar than a lot of other investments. Right now it’s a buyer’s market, so you can purchase properties like this for a bargain.
Remember too that money you spend on your home, is the real economic stimulus package. By hiring a contractor and buying materials, this is helping keep many jobs and is the real heart of moving the economy forward.
Be sure and read the article about tax incentives to see if you might qualify for other programs as well. Click here to read that article.
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