You home is full of memories: moments with your family and friends that you wouldn’t give up for anything. But, if you’re like many Americans, your home is also full of stuff. As our families grow, our houses have an annoying habit of staying the same size. Whatever the reason, though, you may be finding that you old home is not suiting your new life — no matter how much you wish it would.
That may prompt you to start thinking about moving. Buying a new house can be a wise investment, but don’t be fooled: even in a rising real estate market, the cost of selling your old home, buying your new one, and moving all of your stuff from one place to another can really eat into the money you make (if any) over your original home’s purchase price. Instead, you may want to consider keeping your home and improving its living space — and its value — with an addition. Here are a few reasons to consider adding space to your current property instead of moving onto a new one.
Gain control over your living space
If you bought your home from a previous owner, then you didn’t get to design it. That doesn’t mean that your home isn’t great, but individuals tend to have slightly different tastes. If it were up to you, chances are you might have made a few changes to the blueprints.
Of course, you could gain control over your living space by building a new home or, if you are very lucky and very determined, by searching available home stock for a perfect fit. But that would mean starting over and adding a whole lot of work to your plate.
Why start over?
You loved your home when you bought it, and now you have an emotional connection to it. There’s a pretty good chance that you could sit down and list the few things that are wrong with your home. They may be big things, like not having enough space, but the list is going to be finite. And, actually, that’s just what you should do: sit down and make the list. Then call up a contractor.
If you go shopping for a whole new home, you’ll be starting over completely. But if you decide what you want changed about your existing home, you can update and expand your house without having to to start over with every little detail. If you have the right number of bathrooms, or that outdoor space that you always wanted, then why go through the whole process of house hunting shopping again and deal with realtors who think that they can sway you on those vital details? House hunting is stressful and full of pitfalls. Just fix what’s wrong and keep what’s right.
Increase the value of your home
Buying a bigger home would swap your current real estate asset for a potentially more valuable one. But you can make your real estate equity larger without moving because adding an addition to your existing home can make it worth more.
In fact, additions and renovations can be extremely cost-effective ways to make your home more valuable. Speak to experts who really understand renovations, say the pros at Phoenix Home Services. The good ones will be able to tell you which improvements are most likely to have a real effect on the resale value of your home.
Of course, not every improvement has to be made with a mind toward selling — after all, making your home better to live in the interim is important, too. But it sure doesn’t hurt that you can boost the value of your home at the same time as you make it more perfect for your family right here and now.
