Here are my personal real estate resolutions for the new year:

* I resolve to keep up with residential home sales in my neighborhood.

It’s always easy to be follow the listing activity, because we see the "for sale" sign in the yard. But the original asking price is often a far cry from the final selling price, and it’s only the selling price that matters.

By staying in touch with actual selling prices, I can maintain a pretty good idea of the worth of my house, and that’s important for two reasons.

First, I want to make sure I am not over-taxed when the county sends out the new property tax valuations. And second, I want to know that I have adequate insurance coverage.

* I resolve to protest and appeal my property tax valuation when the assessment arrives.

Unless your tax valuation is far below the true "fair market value" of your home, it’s usually worthwhile to protest the county tax valuation. That’s because statistically, you have a one in three chance of seeing the value reduced, and a zero in three chance of having it raised.

I talked to an employee at the Board of Equalization in my county recently, and she told me that the board has the right to raise the valuation as an outcome of an appeal, but that it almost never happens.

* I resolve to contact my insurance agent and have a frank discussion about my home’s value and the level of insurance coverage I am carrying on the house and its contents.

As part of this commitment, I will consider raising the amount of my deductible, thus self-insuring against small losses and saving money in the bargain.

I will also photograph every room in my house with a video recorder, making a permanent record of all my possessions as they existed before an unexpected event. Then I will ask my neighbor to exchange his video record for mine, or at least put my tape in the safe deposit box at the bank, because I recognize that a burned-up video tape will do me no good when I need it.

Also as part of my insurance resolution, I will ask for a quote on an umbrella liability insurance policy, which would kick in after my homeowner’s policy paid its maximum payout. Today we live in an increasingly litigious society, and multi-million dollar judgements do happen.

* I resolve to keep an eye on my debt owed against my home, both first mortgage and any home equity line of credit, and if either (or both) is an adjustable rate instrument, I will consider refinancing the total outstanding debt into a fixed rate instrument while rates are still low.

This course of action would especially benefit anyone with a large balance home equity loan tied to the prime interest rate, as it is likely that we will see further increases in the coming year.

This would also benefit anyone who is still paying private mortgage insurance (PMI) on a loan which originally exceeded 80% of the home’s value. If the home has experienced even modest appreciation, the PMI may no longer be necessary.

* I resolve to take better care of the physical plant of my house than I have in years past. This primarily means keeping the gutters clean, which is a problem because my wife has forbidden me to climb the ladder and I am too cheap to pay anyone else to do the job for me.

I freely admit that this was one of my principal resolutions from last January, and that my plan to seek out "gutter angels" has now been discredited.

When I was a child, I used to mow the neighbor’s lawn for a nickel, then clean out his gutters for free as an afterthought. Today, all the kids in my neighborhood have cell phones and supercomputers, and wouldn’t dream of undertaking manual labor.

Even so, since I have resolved to do a better job in this area, I may have to investigate these armor-plated clog-free gutters that make your house look like a Bradley fighting vehicle.

* Finally, I resolve to become more involved in my neighborhood association and my neighborhood school.

I ran into a neighbor the other day who told me that he heard a rumor that we had moved several months ago and sold the house. I guess that means I need to do a better job of supporting my community.

The good news is that by being involved in civic associations and by showing support to the school system, I am probably doing a lot to boost my own property value.

Thus, I commit to buying tickets to the spaghetti supper and paying my school board tax, even though we don’t have kids.

The bottom line here is that your home is the heart of the community, and the more you do for your home, the more your neighborhood benefits.

Please accept my personal wish for a happy and prosperous new year!