Do you find yourself looking ahead to what you hope to achieve in 2020? Personally speaking, I do make New Year’s resolutions and I find myself thinking about them over the holiday period before making the commitment to firmly change them. 


As we work our way through life in a crazy time to be a Calgarian, we spread ourselves across our work, our family, our health & our wealth. It can be easy to overlook one of the most influential aspects of our day to day life:  The house we live in.  


We start and end our days at home.  We eat, sleep and be merry in our houses.  The structure of our day depends on where we live and how long it takes us to get around.  The biggest bill we have to pay is usually our mortgage payment. And the most important factor in our net worth is usually the equity position we have in our principle residence.  Our lives are centred around our houses and few things have as much bearing on our overall quality of life.  


Considering a housing change? Here are three things you should evaluate in your current situation first.


Three Things To Evaluate Before Buying A New House


1- Get More Out Of Your Home

Does every room in your house have a purpose? Is it being used? The age-old concept of “highest and best use” in real estate is equally applicable to our own homes. Are we using our properties to their fullest? Do we use our backyards, our garage, our basements & all our bedrooms enough or the right way? Can we add value to our home by creating more utility?  Perhaps a garden, outdoor living space, built-in storage areas or new furniture? Any number of these things might help you get more value out of your own home, and as a Calgary real estate professional, I can tell you that more often then not if it improves your lifestyle it will be more value able to the person who will buy your home from you one day. 


2- Getting Your Home To Work For You

Are we using our home to build wealth for us or just store it in the form of debt paydown? There are many ways to get your house working for you:  If you are fortunate enough to have over 20% equity in your property you can get a line of credit set up quite easily.  The LOC can be used as ultra-cheap debt when you need it – few forms of debt are as cheap as homeowner lines of credit, so if we have things like a car loan, credit card debt, consumer debt or other – it can make sense to use the cheap LOC debt to pay off these loans so that we pay less interest which means more of our money goes towards building our net worth.  You can also use your equity to invest – either in real estate or in something else – and the interest expense on your LOC would be tax-deductible in this case.   


3 – Is Your Home Right For The Long-Term?

Lastly – is your house right for you for the long haul? One of the things we know about real estate consumers is they often ask themselves this question over the holidays.  Would an easier commute buy you more time in your life?  Is there enough room to have children and watch them grow up?  Is your house bigger than you need & could you have a better overall quality of life for less?  We need to ask ourselves these questions from time to time, and the holidays are one of the best opportunities for this as we generally spend a bit more time around the house to be able to observe ourselves a little more.  


If any of the above are resonating with you, but you feel you need help, well hey that’s what your Redline Realtor is for. It’s part of our service culture to go beyond showing and selling to help our clients make the most of the properties they’re in. So if you are asking yourself questions and need help finding the answers don’t hesitate to contact your Redliner for help or advice. Contact us today on 403.407.1900.