Most home owners opt to add some upgrades to a new home, which can be rolled into the mortgage opposed to paying for them later on their own. But the choices of what flooring, lighting, or other upgrades to choose can be overwhelming.
Designer Candice Olson, author and host of HGTV’s “Candice Tells All,” says lighting and extra wiring are key upgrades new home buyers should consider.
“Adding lighting — or at least the wiring for it — means you’ll be able to have bathroom sconces instead of that one overhead light the builder gives you,†Olson says. “Your flat-screen TV can be where you want it. You’ll have a floor outlet for the lamp in middle of the open room. And you won’t be ripping out walls later to do all this.”
Also, she says home owners shouldn’t forget about the exterior lighting either. “Outside lighting, plus landscaping, will set apart your house from the others in the neighborhood where buyers chose from plans A, B and C,” Olson says.
As for flooring, Olson recommends hardwood floors for the main living areas, and cork floors for the basement, since there’s potential for water leakage in basements.
She also says the addition of taller baseboards, chair rails, crown molding, coffered ceilings, built-ins or a banquette also are smart investments for upgrades.
Source: “Decisions, Decisions: Add Character to Your Home With a Few Choice Upgrades,†Chicago Tribune (Feb. 4, 2011)
Committee on Feb. 9 about the effect that the new reporting requirements could have on his business. His company, which built six homes last year and employs seven workers, estimates that it would have had to file an additional 173 forms for 2010 had the law been in effect at that time. Mike told committee members that it would have cost his company $6,400 to obtain and catalog the W-9 forms and $2,600 to generate the additional Form 1099s, for an estimated total of $9,000 — and that does not include the software upgrades he would have had to purchase or subsequent work that would have to be done to correct any errors. In all, he told lawmakers, these burdensome tax paperwork requirements would make it more difficult for small businesses to add new employees to their payrolls, because they’ll instead be spending that money on accountants and bookkeepers. Additionally, Mike called lawmakers’ attention to the unfairness of a provision in the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 stipulating that independent landlords as of Jan. 1, 2011 must submit 1099s to firms to which they give more than $600 for services. “By imposing this change in the law with less than three months notice, we believe it is reasonable to say that landlords have been set up for failure when it comes to compliance,” he said. “NAHB urges Congress to re-examine the wisdom of imposing these burdensome requirements on independent landlords and, ultimately, to repeal them.” Read 
