What upgrades could you have lived without? (insurance, mattresses)

[patt]

When considering what to upgrade in a new home what would you say you could have lived without when all was said and done. The kitchen appliances, flooring, sunroom vs screened in porch, fireplace or no? Bathrooms? Just to name a few. Thank you! So many things to think about.

[CTyankee54]

It all depends on what's important to each person. My list of "regrets" after building our house is more about what I didn't do than what we included that we found we could live without. I wish we had included a fireplace and I wish I had paid more attention to where they were putting the outside spigots...they are in the most inconvenient places and I should have had them moved to where I want them. I also wish we had the countertop in the master bath upgraded to granite (more durable than what we installed).



I can't really think of anything we had done that we could have lived without. We love our screened porch, the brick front on the exterior, the wood flooring and the fourth bedroom. We opted to upgrade the dishwasher to one with a better sound rating...important in an open concept house. I recently installed levered door knobs rather than round ones as it's easier to open a door as we get older and hands get weaker. It would have been cheaper to have the builder do that but it didn't occur to me then.



But, like I said, it's really about what's important to each person and their lifestyle.

[beer belly]

One thing I wouldn't be overly concerned about would be items like appliances, they can be upgraded at a later date.....although a dishwasher in an open concept would be the one to think about. I'd be thinking construction wise, those changes can be a budget breaker.

[patt]

Thank you!! So true it's definitely related to what your lifestyle is like. We're really trying to stay within a budget so trying to do that and figure out what do you need as opposed to what do you want is the tricky part. We think the screened porch makes more sense than the sunroom. We would like to upgrade the kitchen for a wall oven because now that we're getting "up there" in years that would be easy on the back when taking the turkey and lasagna pan out of the oven. Wow though, what a cost to upgrade! My husband wants an convection oven combo so that's another upgrade. We love to cook and bake so maybe the money should go there- although not sure who'll we be cooking for since we're leaving everyone in NY. Dinner anyone? A quiet dishwasher is a def must have. We think the fireplace may come in handy, but we never had one when we lived here so could we plug in some space heaters on those cold days and save $3000? The mind just keeps racing! Interesting thought about the spigots I didn't think about where they should go, but that makes a lot of sense. We thought about upgrading the flooring from rugs in the bedroom to laminate because again, if one of us breaks a hip it's easier to walk on a floor than a rug. The bathrooms come with cultured marble but not sure if its durable. I love a front porch so we will go with the more expensive elevation. I asked about floor outlets for lamps in the great room, but they're $475 each - get out the flashlight! The 4 th bedroom is another decision do we need it? I have a very long pros and cons list.

[tiggeerrific]

Hi Patt,!
I am in NY also and we are planning to move down in the spring if we can find something to build .We are coming for 2 months Feb&Mar. and i made a list of my wants
Gas fireplace
Screened porch or a carolina room depending on price
2 car garage
open concept
would love the kitchen and familyroom to over look the back

a lake behind the house doesn't have to be big but not a puddle
wood and tile floors no carpet
pantry
possibly a room over the garage but want the stairs to be not seen hopefully put in the laundryroom if not I can do without.We thought it would be great for walkup storage and also extra room for the grandkids
a community pool

This is our list so far

[FloridaKash]

You can save money by choosing not to have a fireplace installed. Instead you can grab an electric one and put it in the same place for a few hundred bucks. Yeah, I know it's not the same, but it's a whole lot cheaper.

I personally prefer a screened porch over the Carolina room. Yes, to the wall oven. Our home came with double ovens in the wall... never had it before, love it.

A happy medium for flooring may be hard surfaces in the living areas and low pile carpet in the bedroom. I would not use laminate flooring in any wet areas (kitchen and bathrooms).

If it is just the two of you, you may want to think about that 4th bedroom. Remember, more space = more maintenance, utilities and insurance. I also believe 3bd are more in demand than 4bd... something to think about for resale.

[Charlie&Rose]

The first thing hubby looks for when entering a new home is crown moldings. He says, house looks so much better with them.

[e66330]

We absolutely will not have a fire place . That's for the cold weather north . Exactly what we are going to get away from , the cold , even the notion of the cold . That's just us .

[Retire in MB]

While I love my fireplace, for $3000 I could live without it. I use it occasionally during the winter months to take the chill out of the air, but could just put on a sweater. Remember your new home will probably be better insulated than your current home and winters here in SC are short and much milder.

Love my screen porch, to me a must here in the South. I have hard surfaces (tile or engineered wood) in the areas I use all the time (baths, kitchen and master bedroom). The stairs and upstairs guest room have low pile carpet.

4th bedroom is a no for me. To much to heat/cool, clean. When extra company comes I just get out the air mattresses, and we double up in the bedrooms. I think cultured marble is durable enough for the bathrooms for me.


One thing I really miss is a utility sink in the laundry room. I'm thinking of having one put in the garage for messy cleanup.

[NJReenie]

We didn’t get a fireplace because we didn’t like where the builder was putting it. We ended up with a fireplace tv stand for around $500 from Home Depot. I think we used the fireplace part once just to make sure it worked.