We've all be hearing about how tough it is to sell a home right now. Clark's read a number of articles that give some advice to sellers that he's been championing for years. Before you go to market, you should hire an inspector to carefully vet your home. Then fix whatever it is that needs repair, and have the inspector's report and your receipts available for prospective buyers to examine. As a seller, you have to psychologically try to get inside the head of a buyer. Even though a buyer may consider a used home, they still want it to be perfect like a doll house. Imagine that a corner of your roof needs repair and you don't spend the money to fix it. When their inspector finds it, the buyer is more likely to blow the potential repair cost out of proportion and make a lower offer on your house accordingly.

What should you do if you're upside down in your home -- that is, you owe more on it than it's worth? Some lenders will permit you to do a short sale, where you sell your property for a lower value before it financially takes you (and the lender) under. This idea came from the government's FHA program, which would allow people to sell for less than they owed on a property and walk away clean without going into foreclosure. Now private industry is learning from the government's short sale idea. Remember that the average foreclosure costs a lender $70,000, so they don't really want to foreclose. A short sale could be a win/win option for everyone.

Clark and his wife are in the midst of remodeling their home so the front and foyer area are a bit bigger. From the start, Clark has said it is completely for their enjoyment and that they shouldn’t expect it to increase the value of their home. In fact, new statistics from Remodeling magazine show that returns on home improvements are getting less valuable over time. People in the industry will claim you’ll get about 90 cents on the dollar; others say 80 percent. But, in actuality, it’s more like 75 percent. The only way you’ll make money back on a home improvement project is if you do the work yourself. If you can strip floors, redo the kitchen or bath or upgrade and rewire the electrical outlets, your wallet will benefit from it.

This year, we are experiencing the greatest oversupply of wine ever. At the same time, wine is getting better. So, if you like wine, you are loving it right now! Wines are much less expensive and of much better quality these days. There is a twist you need to know about though. Vineyards that normally sell expensive, high-quality wines don’t want to lose their cache or the reputation of their good name by selling their bottles for much cheaper. But they need to make money. So, they are rebottling and relabeling these expensive wines and selling them for much less. Bottles that normally cost $100 are being repackaged and sold for $10 or $15. So, try something new these days that costs much less. It could actually be a fine wine concealed with a different label.

People have lamented to Clark over the years about how much home renovations cost. Last year alone, people spent $215 billion on home remodeling projects. The boom took off in the late 90s and hasn’t stopped since. But a number of factors have changed, and renovations are about to get a lot less expensive. People have gotten nervous about he values of houses, with the number of homes on the market rising dramatically. Plus, people who were making a living building new homes are suffering because those homes have stopped selling. So, the whole supply and demand has reversed. Now, contractors are looking for customers and sending notes, asking if people need any work. They are even showing up the next day to do work, and going above and beyond to get projects right. New homebuilders are becoming renovation and addition contractors, according to the New York Times. The result is that the cost of remodeling is declining. Materials cost less and people need work. So, margins are reduced. Just make sure you see thorough lists of jobs that the contractor has done in the last 18 months. If there is a gap in projects, ask why. There may be some people who didn’t like the contractor’s work. Also, make sure the contractor has insurance or you could wind up paying twice for the project. You want to talk to those folks and be choosy about who you hire. A good price doesn’t necessarily mean a good contractor.

Clark has great news for you if you’ve been considering a renovation or improvement on your home. You are about to have much more negotiating power when renovating or adding on to your home. So, doing improvements is going to be a much better deal. For years, renovators and contractors have been too busy to handle all of the requests out there. Some would often fail to call back or offer services because they were so busy. And, because of the demand, prices were high. But that time is over. Aside from a tiny number of cities, home prices aren’t going up anymore, and borrowing against homes has decreased. So contractors and renovators aren’t as busy anymore, and it’s a great time to renovate. Just be careful. When you hire someone to do a renovation on your home, you’re stuck with them for a while. So, you must screen them thoroughly and check references. Talk to at least five people that have used a certain contractor. Also, if you have work done on a home you already own, be mindful of lien laws. You have to get a release from the contractor that says he or she will pay a subcontractor as part of the deal. If you don’t get a release and that doesn’t happen, supply companies and subcontractors can place liens on your house.

When it comes to renovations, what should you do? When should you renovate and when should you leave it alone? Well, first of all, you should do renovations solely because you want to. Renovations do not make you money. Even the most successful improvements cost more than the amount of value it will bring to your home. If you do a kitchen renovation, for example, you’ll recoup 92 percent of your money. Bathrooms, you’ll make back 90 cents on the dollar. Other areas, you will make back much less. But you shouldn’t do renovations to make money, so it shouldn’t matter.

What’s a townhouse worth these days? How about a traditional home? Well, in Nevada, California, Florida and Washington D.C., housing prices are going up more than 20 percent a year. The end result is that those areas may be in a “bubble” that is about to burst. Economists and those in the housing industry agree overwhelmingly. So, what happens to the bubble? Does it eventually burst or just slowly deflate? Well, the New York Times wrote a related story about Denver, which has been experiencing rising housing values for years. Home values there were escalating at a tremendous amount, and then it stopped all of a sudden last year. The bubble hasn’t burst, but the values have not changed. In some areas, they have gone down. But in most areas they’ve stayed the same. So, how does that affect people? If you have an adjustable rate loan, you may find yourself in a tight spot. People with a fixed rate can ride it out. But those who bought homes in the last phase of the bubble could face the worst of it. If you are in a bubble market and you have a risky loan, refinance to a safer loan. Homes in Denver are now sitting on the market for months. In addition, builders are cutting the price of houses and offering tons of incentives. So, it could take a while to sell your home. If you’re in a speculative market, figure out how to pull back from the cliff.

Americans have become home improvement and remodeling maniacs. Demand is so great in some regions of the country that contractors are doing overnight shifts because they can’t get labor during the day. But there are simple, inexpensive things you can do that will give a house a new look. The simplest are new paint and new carpet. The paint industry would have you believe that you need to spend tons of money to get a quality look. Well, that’s just not true. According to the L.A. Times, “boutique manufacturers” are trying to convince consumers that they must buy designer paints to get the result they are looking for. Some of these “palettes,” as they are called, cost five or six times as much. Are they worth it? No way, says Consumer Reports. The magazine tested each of the paints and found that paints as cheap as $15 a gallon were great to use. So, there is no need to spend a fortune on paint.

Clark is in the process of redoing his kitchen. He wasn’t totally on board with the idea, but now he’s glad he listened to his wife, Lane. It wasn’t that expensive, and the kitchen looks much nicer. But will Clark make back the money? Probably not. It’s unlikely they will make 100 percent on it, but they knew that going into the project. You should complete a home improvement project because you will enjoy how it looks and the purpose it serves. According to Remodeling Magazine, the typical repair will make back an average of 75 cents on every dollar you spend. Bathroom remodeling projects will get about 90 cents on the dollar, and kitchens will return about 80 cents on the dollar. So, don’t think about doing this if you’re going to be in your house for a short time.

The television is filled with shows about renovating your house these days. Contractors are at work everywhere, it seems. Americans became “homebodies” after September 11, 2001, and that has led to some of the home renovation frenzy. But it can be a real hassle. Sometimes you have to move out of your home while the construction happens, and – if you don’t move out – it’s a lot to live with while the work is being done. The prices can get out of control, as well, especially if you let the project get out of control. So, keep the project small and keep it on schedule. If a contractor says a job will be finished by a certain date, make sure it happens. And add language into the contract that says what the contractor will do for you if the project runs long. Also, ask for the last 10 jobs done by the contractor, along with the start and end date. And call the people on the reference list. Ask them if the work was done on time, how it was handled and what - if anything – went wrong. Also, don’t think you’re doing the improvements to increase the value of your home. Research has shown that this doesn’t work. So, do it for aesthetic value because you will like living there.

People like the idea of doing home improvements or remodeling a certain area of their home because they think they’ll make money when it sells. But Clark is wary of this kind of thinking. According to Money Magazine, a no frills bathroom remodel will make you 87 percent of the money you spent on the project. A no frills kitchen remodel will get you an 80 percent return. In the best examples given, you end up with about the same return. So, you want to remodel your home because you will enjoy the results, not because it will make you money. Make it fun, too. That means having a clear plan with and idea of exactly how much it will cost and exactly what materials you’ll need. If you make back 80 to 90 percent on a home improvement and you get to enjoy it, then it’s really worth it in the end. A story in Smart Money magazine reports that an outdoor fireplace will cost you about $6,000. Media rooms, indoor hot tubs, personal spas, granite countertops and cathedral ceilings are also popular improvement ideas.