[baobabKoodaa]

> it'll only increase your house value

This is very misleading. Yes, if you spend $1 renovating your house, perhaps your house value has increased by $0.50, but you've also lost $1, so financially speaking, you've made a loss. So in the context of investing, it's misleading to state that renovations increase your house value.

It may be theoretically possible to make a profit with renovations, in some very specific conditions and with extraordinary skill, but the vast majority of renovations are not profitable.

[bluedevil2k]

I blame the HGTV shows for this misconception that a house renovation has a positive investment return. They show things like “a $100,000 kitchen remodel leads to an increase in house value of $80,000, an 80% return!”, when of course the real return is -20%. That’s not even counting time-value, which may lower it to -40% or -50% depending how long you hold the house. When you factor in opportunity cost...even worse. The best home “renovation”, when it comes to investment, is to do nothing.

[pjerem]

Ok, maybe I didn't make my point clear.

I'm just saying investing in your house does make your house value increase, not that it's financially interesting. And in an ideal situation, I would anyway never sell this "house I love".

The point i'm trying to make is : if you put your extra money on your house, it's never going to be a total loss and if you do it well it can increase your happiness by a lot. It's a personal thing but I think that feeling well at home (not only materially, but that's another point) is the foundation of stable happiness.