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How do you make this decision? We live in an ok but not all that well built home in the perfect location. It is small for our suburban area but at 2600sqft perfectly fine for our family of four. We have a much larger than normal lot (nearly .5 acre where here most are .15 or .2) and we are in a great central location with excellent schools.
We are considering renovating our kitchen and downstairs bathroom as well as painting the outside of the house and at the same time we are looking around to be sure we shouldn't move instead. While it would cost us around 40k to renovate we would have to spend approx 100k more to move to a slightly larger home that we would have to do nothing to. We can afford either but obviously would like to spend less.
My concern is how to know that it makes sense to spiff up our smaller than average house rather than just sell it and move? I'm leaning towards staying but don't want to over renovate for the house.
Would love thoughts, thanks!
Oh and before anyone says it, yes, 2600 square feet is great for us and I realize its large in much of the country but most of the new houses here are 3200+ so my concern for resale I think is valid.
If I were in your shoes, I would renovate. Location is really important. You can fix a house, you cannot fix a location. You can always renovate and change a house but if you buy new home in a location that is not perfect - you cannot fix that.
How do you make this decision? We live in an ok but not all that well built home in the perfect location. It is small for our suburban area but at 2600sqft perfectly fine for our family of four. We have a much larger than normal lot (nearly .5 acre where here most are .15 or .2) and we are in a great central location with excellent schools.
We are considering renovating our kitchen and downstairs bathroom as well as painting the outside of the house and at the same time we are looking around to be sure we shouldn't move instead. While it would cost us around 40k to renovate we would have to spend approx 100k more to move to a slightly larger home that we would have to do nothing to. We can afford either but obviously would like to spend less.
My concern is how to know that it makes sense to spiff up our smaller than average house rather than just sell it and move? I'm leaning towards staying but don't want to over renovate for the house.
Would love thoughts, thanks!
Oh and before anyone says it, yes, 2600 square feet is great for us and I realize its large in much of the country but most of the new houses here are 3200+ so my concern for resale I think is valid.
Why are you asking a board of strangers. And that's not "large". That's average. And not "well built" on top of it all?
If you are so in love with the school system and you can afford the 40K (which will end up around 50-60K) to renovate - do it.
If you can afford a larger and better built home, that still has a a great public school system...why hesitate to move?
Shelling out $40K (which will never be 40K) as opposed to getting what you want in a mortgage.....
Do you have the $40K in cash? Or will you be taking out a HELOC? Might spend $600 one month and $300 the next?
Move. Get what you want all tied up in to one little nice mortgage without a variable + 1 % rate.
No HELOC, cash for the renovation. 50kish extra mortgage if we move. And I'm asking a because this is a board dedicated to real estate right? And this is a real estate decision. I didn't say 2600 sqft was large, only that in some areas in the country it would be considered large. It is small here.
If you like everything about the house except the cosmetics I would fix the cosmetics.
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