impermanence and upgrades

Since we moved into our home nearly two years ago, there has been an ever-growing list of upgrades and home improvements that we've been considering. We managed to take care of a few things on the list that were basic necessities, like new appliances (our home was missing the range). We wanted to do some extensive landscaping and were even considering some terracing to try and make the hollow behind our home more usable. We'd like to get the deck covered and install solar lights on the railing. I've got some trim that I purchased not too long ago that is awaiting a coat of paint. Then I'll fasten it to the top of our kitchen cabinets, to make them look a little fancier. Other things like repainting the walls and ceiling are relatively inexpensive, and we're getting to the different rooms as we have time.

One of the items that was high on our list but fairly cost-prohibitive was installing hardwood flooring in the kitchen and living room. From what we've seen in stores and online, it looks like it will cost us about $6000 to $8000 installed. I could try to install it myself, which will certainly knock some cash off the price, but I'm not sure how good it would turn out. As I've stated before, I'm not the world's best handyman.

So for a while, we were thinking that we would apply our next big tax return to our wish list and get those hardwood floors installed. However, we've begun to question whether we want to stay in this house. If you've been reading my blog for any small period of time, you've certainly read my posts about the workmanship and questionable building codes (if any) that were followed when it was constructed. I still worry about the electrical work hidden in those walls. I've replaced most outlets and fixtures, but there's no telling what kind of mistakes the builders made behind the walls. I feel like I'm just waiting for a catastrophe.

So we've been debating selling the house and trying to build one ourselves, not necessarily in that order. Land in town isn't cheap, but I think it would be possible for us to build a small house that accommodates our family's needs for less than $100k, land included. This would assume that I do much of the work myself.

So we've been re-evaluating that wish list. Do we really want to get hardwood floors for a house that we're just going to sell? Would it increase the cost of the home enough to make it worth it? Would it be better to just install a new laminate or vinyl flooring? Those quick-flip shows on TV advocate just putting down vinyl stick-in squares. We don't live in a fancy neighborhood, and our house is probably one of the newer ones, so I don't think potential buyers will be expecting things like hardwood floors and granite countertops. But then again, houses in this neighborhood sometimes take forever to sell. Maybe hardwood floors would fix that.

As for the other items on our list, I guess we need to evaluate what gives the most bang for visual buck. It's a shame how your attitude towards a home changes s soon as you have decided that it isn't where you want to be.