Adding onto Your Home vs. Moving – Pros & Cons
When you bought your home years ago, it was perfect. Now your family is growing, and the house feels like it’s shrinking. Should you build an addition or move to a larger home? The choice might seem simple if you love where you live, but there are several factors to consider.
Affordable investment?
According to HomeAdvisor, the national average cost of adding a room or building an addition onto an existing home is $40,917. Think about whether putting money into your current house will add value to your home and pay off should you choose to sell in the future. Sometimes an expensive renovation can’t be recouped. An addition also will impact your property taxes. Can you meet the expense of an increase?
Think long-term
Ask yourself if it’s possible you’ll outgrow your home again. Will a boost to your home’s square footage be enough in the years to come? This is typically a factor for young families or when aging relatives are planning to move in. Another important consideration is the area available for an addition. If you’ll regret losing valuable yard space, the decision to expand the inside living space might not be practical. The size of your yard also could affect future home buyers when the time comes to sell your home later.
When one thing leads to another
Depending on the age of your current home, as well as the quality of the original design and construction, a renovation can open up a host of building issues you hadn’t anticipated. The electricity, plumbing, heating, foundation, water, and sewer/septic systems were intended for the blueprints they were created for. Can the current infrastructure accommodate the changes you’re planning? Make sure you ask those kinds of questions and feel comfortable with the answers you get before breaking ground on a big remodeling project.
Relocating to a new home brings its own financial and practical challenges. But it sure is fun to check out the possibilities. Want to see what opportunities exist with new construction? Book a tour with us and have a look!