Whether you’ve just moved in or you’re a long-time homeowner, it’s always a good idea to raise your home’s value whenever the possibility arises. One day an emergency could crop up and you might need to pull some of the equity out of your home to deal with it.

You might also have to move because of a work-related issue such as a promotion or fabulous new job in another city. Who knows what the future holds?

What could be an incredibly stressful situation could be much less disquieting if you’ve taken steps to keep your home’s value in tip-top condition – and it could be a lot less expensive than you might think.

Landscaping can be fun

One of the ways you can beautify your home and increase its value all by yourself is by doing a little gardening in your spare time. Instead of just lying on the couch and watching TV, why not put on some old clothes, go out in the yard and take a good look around.

Some flowers would sure look swell straddling that walkway or driveway, or in a couple of flower boxes under the front windows. Just a little sweat equity, and a trip to the home improvement big-box store could fill a few weekends with a fun project for you and the family, for less money than you’d think.

And the resulting upgrade to your home’s look might be just the ticket when the appraiser comes round to evaluate you for a home loan.

What about a new paint job?

Another equity booster that probably yields more bang-for-the-buck than any other home improvement category is house painting. Ask 10 experienced realtors what sells a home faster than anything else and 9 of them will answer: “Paint job”.

And while you're at it, maybe it’s time to change the color of your home, to experiment with some of the newer color schemes that emphasize blending your home with its site rather than just slapping on the old whitewash.

The famous architect, and designer of the ubiquitous Barcelona Chair, Mies van der Rohe, once said: “Nature, too, shall live its own life. We must beware not to disrupt it with the color of our houses and interior fittings.”

You don’t have to hire an architect like Mies, but at least talk to someone who knows a bit about painting and color before you start the process.

How about some emergency planning?

One home equity booster that doesn’t usually come to mind when you’re considering investing in your home and raising its value is emergency preparedness.

This sort of planning obviously depends heavily upon where your home is located: hurricanes on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, earthquakes in California, or tornadoes in the Midwest, just to name a few.

But no matter where you are, there’s some potential disaster, distinctive to your region, which can happen in any year. Just a simple storage shed with supplies of bottled water, canned and packaged food, flashlights, batteries, a portable radio and a first aid kit are a good start.

Provisions for temporary shelter from the sun and cold, like your camping tent and supplies, are also good ideas, as long as they are readily accessible. Just try to think, what if the electricity were cut off for, say, a week.

What would we do? The answer to that question might not only save your life, but also increase your home’s equity at the same time.

How is the roof holding up?

A typical home’s roof will last about 25 years, no matter what it’s made of. The bad part of a leaking roof isn’t just the fact that the water is dripping into the living quarters of your home.

Yes, this has the potential for damage to your furnishings and stuff that results from these roof leaks.

It’s also the hidden destruction that water does to interior joists and trusses, like dry-rot, that might really cost you a lot when you finally get around to replacing that old roof.

You cannot install new roof tiles and flash waterproofing on a wooden structure that is weak or rotting. No roofing company would ever do so because it wouldn’t be able to offer any sort of a warranty on the work done.

Once your roofer pulls the old tiles off, and then finds dry-rot in the substructure, your re-roofing job is going to become much, much more expensive. So the trick is – always replace your roof before it starts leaking.

Even if you can’t see the leaks, they could be there once your roof gets past the age of 20 years. So, call a roofer and get an inspection at the 20-year mark; it could be the smartest money you’ve ever spent.