Remodeling Vs Buying New Home
There comes a time for many families when their home no longer feels as comfortable or functional as it used to. It could be that your family has grown in size, or maybe your children have just grown up. Or your lifestyle has changed enough that the space you currently have is no longer a good fit.
remodeling vs buying new home
Whatever the reason may be, you have two solutions to the problem: Remodel your Seattle home or find a new one. Both options require a substantial investment of both time and money, and there are pros and cons to each. Ultimately, it depends on several factors related not only to your actual home, but also your entire property and community.
However, there are a few downsides to moving as well. First, it tends to be more expensive than remodeling, even if you are able to apply the money you make from the sale of your current home. Keep in mind there are several expenses associated with selling your house, such as real estate agent fees, moving costs and doing touch-ups and minor repairs on your property to get it ready for listing. Homeowners typically spend about $7,000 prepping, which may involve tasks like painting, carpet-cleaning, lawn care and staging, to name a few.
Remodeling your home in Seattle is an appealing option because you have control over how much you spend and how much work you want to do to upgrade the space. You can also take on new projects over time in order to spread out the costs. However, each investment you make will continue to increase the lifespan and resale value of your home, while also improving the quality of life for your family while you reside there. Remodeling your kitchen and upgrading your bathrooms, in particular, yield high returns on investment (ROI), as those spaces are frequently used and integral to the flow of your daily life.
To help you more accurately compare the price of remodeling to the price of buying a new home, calculate not only the cost of labor and materials, but also acquiring permits for the project; debris disposal fees; site preparation and cleanup; and potentially drawing up architectural plans. Collectively, these expenses can make your remodeling cost higher than you expect. With a design-build contractor, however, the renovation process is streamlined as you work with one company for each aspect of the project. Additionally, some Seattle remodelers, such as Innovative Home Renovations, offer a fixed-pricing model so you have a guarantee of the total construction cost, enabling you to prevent scope creep and maximize your investment when remodeling.
When your family is ready for a housing change, both buying a new home and remodeling both have the potential to be good options. If you want to upgrade your existing house or purchase and renovate a fixer-upper, our team at Innovative Home Renovations can help you do so without the cost spiraling out of control, as if often the case with home improvements. While designing and building your kitchen makeover or bathroom remodel, we can accurately assess the cost of your investment based on a detailed project scope and specific criteria to offer a fixed price, along with quality service and craftsmanship.
Haven Life Insurance Agency (Haven Life) offers a simple online experience for buying dependable and affordable term life insurance. We're committed to making life insurance less time-consuming and far more rewarding.
Remodeling your current home is a big project. Moving is also a big deal and comes with a lot of change. There is a time to remodel and a time to move. Neither option is wrong or right, but one might fit your situation better than another.
When you decide to remodel, you get to choose what your home will look like and how it will function. Moving means finding a new home, which may or may not have everything on your wish list. With home remodeling, you get to choose the colors, materials, and what you change.
Unless you hate where you live, not moving can be a huge benefit or remodeling your current home. Not only will you have to leave your neighborhood, but you also have to pack up everything and actually move.
When you move, you will be looking for a new home and starting over. If you choose to remodel, you can, instead, increase the value of your current home. This can help you build equity and gain some if not all, the money back you spend on remodeling.
While not every project will add value to your home, remodeling can increase the value. It will go up even more over time, so if you plan to stay in your home for many years, remodeling might make a lot of sense.
There are no cut-and-dry answers to the question of whether an old or a new home is a better buy. As you saw above, your decision will be unique to your personal goals, your financial capabilities, and your aptitude for renovation and design. The activity of the particular community in which you want to live will also affect your decision.
My husband and I are planning on building our dream home. I like the advice about how a newly constructed home will allow you to get the floor plan that you want. Another benefit of a newly constructed home is that it will be up to date on all codes and have better electrical services.
Kelly Bacon is a licensed general contractor with over 40 years of experience in construction, home building and remodeling, and commercial building. He is a member of The Spruce Home Improvement Review Board.
There are financial advantages to a building vs. remodeling as well. A new home build is typically easier to finance than a remodel. Although you can get a loan from a commercial bank for a remodeling project, it typically means a second mortgage on your home. Those loans also come with a higher interest rate and stricter credit requirements. Unlike with a remodel, current tax laws provide incentives, credits, and favorable exclusions for those selling their home to buy a new one.
In addition to all of the practical considerations, there is something special about the fresh start that only new home construction can bring. Simply move in and enjoy pristine walls, shiny new floors, and modern appliances.
As people seek ways to reduce the environmental impact of their homes, they explore a number of different strategies. Green building trends are sweeping the nation, but many wonder if it's eco-friendlier to build a new home or buy and possibly renovate an older one.
Buying a new home falls into the reuse category. Even if you complete significant remodeling, you will still be reducing the demand for new resources. When you use materials that are already in use, you eliminate the need for new.
This may be especially true if you build and live in a new home that uses minimal energy and renewable energy as well as sustainable and recycled materials. Living in that home would likely be greener over the long-term than living in an already existing house that runs on fossil fuels, is not energy efficient, and needs repairs that require unsustainable materials.
If you're looking to build a new green home, the United States Green Building Council has a lot of valuable resources and also offers Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certification.
To get the best of both worlds, more eco-conscious residents are opting to buy older homes and retrofit them to make them greener. This avoids the sourcing and use of entirely new materials, but it also allows you to incorporate some of the modern, green technologies that can reduce a home's environmental impact. In fact, 43% of respondents in a recent survey of U.S. housing industry professionals said they expect to work on a green building retrofit in the next three years.
A fixer-upper loan may be a good option to buy a house that needs some TLC and pay for the repairs needed to turn it into your dream home. These loans are designed to give you the money you need to buy and renovate the home at the same time. Understanding how the different fixer-upper loans work will help you decide the best way to finance your fixer-upper.
The FHA 203(k) loan program insures mortgages made by private lenders approved by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to cover the cost of buying the property and fixing it up. You can also refinance with a 203(k) loan to renovate your current home.
People living in rural areas can purchase a home and finance the cost of renovations and repairs with a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) renovation loan. No down payment is required; the loan can finance up to 100% of the expected value of the home after improvements are made. The USDA backs these loans for lower-income homebuyers, so check the income caps in your area.
USDA renovation loans allow you to make home improvements including kitchen and bathroom upgrades, the addition of amenities for family members with disabilities, structural changes or the installation of energy-efficient features. There are no minimum repair costs, but the maximum is $35,000 if you want to avoid the need for a qualified inspector to oversee the project.
Labor to repair, remodel, or restore residential real property is not taxable. Residential real property means family dwellings, including apartment complexes, nursing homes, condominiums, and retirement homes. It does not include hotels or residential properties rented for periods of less than 30 days. The property doesn't have to be the residence of the owner.
On the other hand, the total amount charged for remodeling, repairing, or restoring nonresidential real property is taxable. Examples of nonresidential real property are hospitals, office buildings, refineries, warehouses, parking garages, retail shops, restaurants, manufacturing facilities, and other commercial establishments.
If your contract is to repair, remodel, or restore "multiple-use property" (property used for both residential and commercial purposes), you should call and ask for the guidelines for repairing, remodeling, or restoring such property. 041b061a72