I'm sure you've heard the common saw about home ownership: "Your home is probably your biggest investment." For our family, our home is a decent sized investment, but we've never considered it an investment. Our home has always been the place where we live.

We have taken good care of it. We've done what we can to ensure it retains or grows in value over the years. You might even say we've invested in it. After all, sinking thousands of dollars into a kitchen or bathroom remodel is an investment. It's money spent in the hopes of getting value in return, either in immediate satisfaction or in enhanced value of the underlying asset.

We're at a point now, however, where we've come through a complete round of investments here at our little home. We've been completely through the place since we moved in. We've updated or upgraded nearly every major aspect of our house - from the roof overhead to the floors in the finished lower level.

This has brought us to a decision point: Should we stay here and enjoy what we have, or should we put our place on the market and move on?

We like our home just fine. It suits our living style. It's modest and unassuming. It's comfortable and convenient to our needs. It's paid for. On the other hand our home has reached middle age. Many of our home's fundamental features such as room layout and size no longer measure up to the standards of homes being built today.

The basic decision we're wrestling with is this: Is our home an investment? Or is our home simply "our home"?