Modern Home Updates That Honor Service and Save Costs
For veterans, service members, and eligible spouses, a home is more than an investment; it’s a sanctuary. After military service, modernizing that sanctuary often involves specific, functional upgrades designed to restore independence, enhance accessibility, and address service-related conditions like PTSD or physical disabilities.
Home renovations can take on many interesting forms. Upgrades are typically performed to bolster comfort and convenience, with value-driven enhancements as an added benefit. Real estate is generally the largest investment of all, followed by 401(k)s, IRAs, and related savings and retirement plans. Home updates often combine elegance, sophistication, and functionality – the perfect medley of flavors for an improved lifestyle.
How Are Vets Refinancing Remodeling Projects?
Modern home updates that honor service and save costs come in a variety of functional upgrades. Veterans often have specific requirements for accommodations related to injuries, disabilities, or specialized conditions. Veterans may suffer from trauma and/or physical ailments, disabilities, or restrictions that warrant modern home updates for functional, enhanced, and accessible living. Such projects are routinely undertaken and facilitated through VA cash out refi solutions through lenders.
Veterans with VA loans are in safe hands with reputable lenders. These refinancing options are a powerful tool available to veterans for financing remodeling projects. Essentially, a cash out refinance option taps into the equity of the home, providing much-needed financial leverage to undertake important upgrades and remodeling initiatives.
It’s possible to access a substantial sum of money with a cash out option, provided the difference between the market value and the pay-down value is favorable to the homeowner. The terms and conditions of VA cash-out refinance options are typically more favorable than those of credit card companies, personal loans, or traditional credit facilities.
Disabled veterans routinely implement home modifications to enhance their quality of life. This is a viable way for them to live independently, with improved functionality. Often, the US Department of Veterans Affairs and other nonprofit organizations tend to support these types of programs. Modern home upgrades for veterans are focused on specific areas of the home that require improvements.
If disabilities exist, renovations are undertaken to minimize their impact on day-to-day functionality. In other words, the objective is to create barrier-free living spaces. If reach is a problem, the design and layout are restructured so the essentials are accessible.
Common examples of upgrades being implemented by veterans and their families include:
- Floors – Everything begins from the floor up. Surfaces should be nonslip to reduce the likelihood of injuries, accidents, or difficult movement. Ideally, surfaces should be even, with low-pile carpeting to avoid trips, slips, and falls. Other surfaces include luxury vinyl planks that allow easy wheelchair and walking-assisted device movement.
- Doorways and hallways – Veterans with disabilities typically require wider doorways and fewer encumbrances in hallways to facilitate full wheelchair access. This includes all essential areas of the home. Think bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchens, dining rooms, laundry rooms, and so forth. Maneuverability is essential whenever mobility devices are used. A 5-foot turning arc is typically needed for wheelchairs.
- Floor ramps and elevators – Steps present serious challenges for disabled veterans. Aging-in-place veterans may also require assistance when it comes to stepping up or down. For this purpose, a gently sloping floor, ramps, and smooth transitions between rooms are needed. If a veteran’s home is a multilevel abode, steps may be difficult. Therefore, elevators, or stair lifts running along the banister/railings may be a viable upgrade.
- Specialized doors – It’s difficult for veterans in wheelchairs or using walking devices to open doors and safely navigate through rooms. Wheelchair accessible doorways with hands-free functionality, using mechanical assist options are a useful solution in this regard. Automatic door openers make it much easier to enter or exit areas of the home.
- Kitchens – Many people spend a good portion of their time at home in the kitchen. For this reason, lower/adjustable height counters, kitchen sinks, and cooktops are necessary. Pull-down shelving in cabinets should be available to veterans at counter height. The goal is to avoid any climbing or overhead stretching that presents hazards to veterans.
Upgrades are necessary in many different areas of the home, notably among them the bathrooms. These present as the most exigent upgrades given the serious fall hazards with wet floors and slippery surfaces. For this reason, many veterans, service members, and eligible family members opt for roll-in showers, grab bars and handrails, accessible sinks, bidets, and hot water adjustments. Each of these home upgrades collectively serves a purpose for safe use and sustainable living. And with the right financing options, everything is certainly possible.
