Before…
It's so easy - and 'cheaper' - to decorate your home upon moving in and then do absolutely nothing forever afterward. As a real estate professional, we see this happen daily and all know this type of complacency is indeed very.....expensive!
After…
We see enough homes almost every single day to know the difference between a home that is being consistently maintained, refreshed, and updated compared to those that are neglected. A drippy faucet, a non-working outlet, a loose gutter, a rotting façade element are all things that have the capacity to annoy, but worse, they also may be the earliest triggers of larger, snowballing issues. Maintaining and repairing a home consistently is critically important to maintaining its value not only fiscally, but also from a quality-of-life perspective.
Equally important, is the need to adjust a home's aesthetics and functionality to evolving needs and times. This can be the tough one. And the costs to do so can be large. However, the impact a non-updated home has on re-sale (or re-financing) valuation can be significantly more than the cost of actually doing the work.
It is a great idea to speak to your trusted real estate advisor on what upgrades/modifications/repairs/etc might deliver both value to their quality of life AS WELL as re-sale value down the road. If you have zero intention of ever selling, it's dangerous for most people to spend big money on anything unless it creates value.