Addition in jeopardy...

[dr.girlfriend]

I posted on MM since the issues are mostly financial, but please weigh in if you're willing!


pandce.proboards.com/thread/603486/addition-jeopardy

[mmp]

I’d do it. Wouldn’t think twice. I will pay anything to make my house the way I want it.

[thatgirl2478]

I know you say you haven't seen anything UNDER $500k - but have you seen ANYTHING else come up that would work for you?

[Mrs.flang]

I would definitely do it, we are in a pretty similar situation with our reno. The only other thing though is that stuff always goes over budget. We have almost 10% in change orders, the biggest of which are things we couldn’t avoid like issues with a beam, and having to build a small retaining wall because of the bump out.

We tried to cut back on some of our wants to hit our number at the start, like we held off on redoing our guest bathroom and are going to try to do some of the basement finishes ourselves. But we are stretched much further financially than it sounds like you are. I don’t regret it (yet).

[mrsukyankee]

I would do it for all the reasons others have put. For a forever home, it's more important for you to be comfortable and happy where you are.

[lilac05]

Knowing that most building projects finish at 10-20% over budget, does that change your mind.

You obviously want it and can afford it. As long as you can afford it if/when it goes over AND neither of you have jobs that can relocate you, I’d continue with your project. You’ve saved the money to be used on things that will make your life better/easier. To me, it’s not much different than buying a brand new sports car instead of a 5 year old sensible car. Things don’t have to make financial sense to be the best decision for you.

[bellalynn]

I'd do it (have done it). We have looked for years and haven't found another house that suits our needs as much as this one with the renovations.

As for cost over runs, yes, that's a reality. We planned on around $200K, but ended up around the mid-200s. Ouch. It's been a lot, but still so worth it for us.

[dr.girlfriend]

Nov 3, 2018 20:16:33 GMT -5 thatgirl2478 said:

I know you say you haven't seen anything UNDER $500k - but have you seen ANYTHING else come up that would work for you?

You mean for more than $500k, or just anything at all?  So far we've just been looking within our elementary school district, which is a pretty small area.  We found a few things nice enough to look at in person, but nothing we liked more than we think we would like our house with the addition. 

For example, there was one ranch that was super designed, and photographed beautifully.  It was $575k, though, and when we saw it in person the smaller bedrooms were so tiny as to be pretty nonfunctional, the flow of the house was not good past the main living room / kitchen (you had to walk down a hallway so small it was claustrophobic) and the house was on a really busy street with constant traffic.

There was another house right in our neighborhood that seemed perfect...it was an obvious flip, but it had a nice living space, two-car garage, finished basement.  But the ground-floor master was kind of weirdly off the main living room and so small that even with just a queen bed in it there was no room for any other furniture or to even really access the closet.  And then when we saw it in person a lot of the flipped stuff looked really flimsy...like the shower stall looked really cool in photos but in person the whole thing shuddered when you opened the door.  That one was $440k.

Another was an identical version of our house almost, but with a nice addition that had additional living space and a nice master bedroom.  But, the kitchen was very tiny, and it wouldn't be possible to open it up to anywhere like we did with our kitchen.

Most of the homes in our area are twins, which DH absolutely will not even consider -- he hates the idea of sharing a wall with someone.  And as for what will actually sell in this area, I think it's really hard to judge.  Some new townhomes have come up that are starting in the $500s.  They recently tore down a historic house and are building 7 new construction homes on that big lot...they are starting at $799k.  So, there is definitely a market for fancy stuff five minutes from where we live.

I don't know, this is making us sound really picky, and maybe we are.  :-)  But these are like three houses that had ground floor masters out quite a lot of listings over the past year, maybe more like year-and-a-half.

[thatgirl2478]

Nov 4, 2018 23:16:48 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Nov 3, 2018 20:16:33 GMT -5 thatgirl2478 said:

I know you say you haven't seen anything UNDER $500k - but have you seen ANYTHING else come up that would work for you?

I don't know, this is making us sound really picky, and maybe we are.  :-)  But these are like three houses that had ground floor masters out quite a lot of listings over the past year, maybe more like year-and-a-half.

I think you SHOULD be picky - particularly if you plan to stay in the house forever. 

I would probably go ahead with the addition knowing that you'll probably be building something that's 'too much' for the neighborhood (even though it's probably not given the info you've provided).

[lacey]

Have you looked at new construction at all? It looks like you are going to end up with two very large living areas and a tiny kitchen. The complaints you had about other houses other people are likely to have about yours. I would invest more in a new build house with a downstairs bedroom but a more balanced overall floor plan.

I would carefully consider if you are moving forward just because you have put this much time and energy into it so far and not because it is the decision that makes the most sense. When you first started looking you were probably in at 100k and probably out at 200k, and, with overages, you are looking at about 200k. Have you looked at houses in the 600k-700k range?

Having said that, you can afford to do the renovation, so if this is what you then disregard the resale value.

[dr.girlfriend]

Nov 9, 2018 12:02:04 GMT -5 lacey said:

Have you looked at new construction at all? It looks like you are going to end up with two very large living areas and a tiny kitchen. The complaints you had about other houses other people are likely to have about yours. I would invest more in a new build house with a downstairs bedroom but a more balanced overall floor plan.

I would carefully consider if you are moving forward just because you have put this much time and energy into it so far and not because it is the decision that makes the most sense. When you first started looking you were probably in at 100k and probably out at 200k, and, with overages, you are looking at about 200k. Have you looked at houses in the 600k-700k range?

Having said that, you can afford to do the renovation, so if this is what you then disregard the resale value.

I agree that would probably be ideal -- we like new construction in terms of open floor plans, etc.  There is just zero new construction in our area.  There's new townhouse developments, and then one historic home got bought/torn down and they are building 7 luxury houses on that lot, but they are in the $800k range.  

I agree though, that the house we will end up with will be great for us (e.g., we want big living spaces and don't care about the kitchen) but the next buyer might have an issue with it (e.g. master suite being a whole house away from the other two bedrooms).  But, again...should we really care?  We're tending towards no.  :-)

[starryfish]

i would do it. Is there anything you can trim from the budget to make it better $ wise for you? If not, go for it. I saw your LVP post, and I would recommend LVP, it could save you a LOT of money.