I can't say exactly how appraisals work, but if we're talking about work that you would have done, regardless, then it's sensible to do it sooner than later.

For what it's worth, I'm a fan of spending the bucks and fixing small problems before they become big problems. About the only maintenance that I'm deliberately deferring is replacing a dead tree on the side of our house, since we're still technically in a draught and I don't want to pony up for new landscaping until the weather gets less insane.

As to all the investment action going on here, all I'll say is that I'm a convert for low-fee index investment. Pick your asset allocation (stock vs. bond, large vs. small cap, etc.) then find the cheapest way to get it, often Vanguard ETFs.

I don't have the cojones to pull everything out of the market. My market investments are for a 20-30 year time horizon, not for next week. Yeah, the numbers have gone down, but that's okay. That's not money we actually need for anything, any time soon.