What? Don’t repair my home?

Correct!

Are you kidding me?

No! Here’s why.

Repairs to your home are not deductible, and they add nothing to your basis. Thus, repairs to your home do nothing for your taxes.

Improvements add to your basis and therefore reduce your taxable gain on sale.

True, the $250,000 or $500,000 home-sale-gain exclusion might shelter all your gain from taxes. Then again, it might not. Who knows how much appreciation and inflation will take place in the next five, 10, ... Log in to view full article.