What do you think of people who can afford to renovate and don't?

[Anonymous]

I know, I know, it doesn't matter what other people think, but I'm still not that highly evolved so just humor me.

We live in a suburban Nova neighborhood where SFH are worth $900-$1.1M (many of us paid less of course.) These are just normal 4br houses but you know how prices are around here. I would estimate most neighbors have a HHI of $200-$350k. Two feds, or an engineer and teacher, some SAHM's, stuff like that. Obviously there may be outliers.

Anyhoo, we've noticed a lot of our neighbors doing major renovations lately, and not just since Covid. Full kitchens and baths, some are moving walls and changing layouts, etc. Some families have literally redone the whole house. The results are stunning, don't get me wrong and the neighbors seem to enjoy their updated homes. I don't begrudge them this.

DH and I and just...don't really feel like spending our money on this or dealing with the disruption (the latter may even be the bigger of the two reasons.) Yes we have moments after we've seen a neighbor's home where we discuss it, but when it actually comes to pulling that kind of money out of savings and going through the motions, we just don't want to. I guess in that sense we are kind of lazy. We complete all the home maintenance, have fresh neutral paint throuhgout the home, updated light fixtures, we replace worn carpeting, etc. Previous owners redid the kitchen maybe 15 years ago - its not the current style but still in great shape. We have newer appliances. At some point we'll be forced to do the upstairs baths but putting that off as long as we can - no one sees them but us.

TL;DR - What do you think of us when you come to our home that is not remodeled, especially if you know or highly suspect that we could afford it? Do you think less of us or think we are cheap?

[Anonymous]

We are also non-renovators. It basically comes down to…do I hate my outdated kitchen enough to live through a major renovation and pay through the nose to do it? And the answer is no, I do not.

[Anonymous]

^ Oh, and I would never think less of you or think you were cheap if I visited your home

[Anonymous]

Zero judgment. Major renovations are awful to live through.

[Anonymous]

I would think nothing of it. Too many people renovate just to do it and b/c of trends they see on HGTV. My feeling is, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

[Anonymous]

I think they are sensible. I don't understand destroying a functional things because they are dated.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think they are sensible. I don't understand destroying a functional things because they are dated.

+1

Also, I would think that you are comfortable in your current environment.

[Anonymous]

I’m a non renovator too. If the house works for you, why change it? Renovations are huge $$$. I truly doubt anyone thinks about this at all as long as you do regular maintenance and keep your property nice.

[Anonymous]

my answer to your last question is no. Perhaps because we have a very high HHI and our kitchen is from the 80s: laminate countertops, honey oaks, the works.

Even if you have a high HHI and/or net worth, unless you are very wealthy (or your parents are and they give you money, like a couple on my street), those renovations are expensive AF. These renovations are 100-200K and for the UMC that is still nothing to sneeze at. When I was a kid I thought differently. If you could afford to live in a nice neighborhood and were a doctor and lawyer, why wouldn't you renovate? Obviously I know better now.

Also another thing I've learned is that renovations are a major PITA, not just because you have to move out for big ones, but because all the decisions and all the checking to make sure things are going the way you want are exhausting. Our cabinets are getting truly warn out to the point where they are going to break and I'll probably just have them repaired and deal with an ugly kitchen, because I don't think Il'l have it in me to do a renovation.

Okay here is my TL;DR - No I don't think somebody who doesn't renovate is cheap because it's still a ton of money and an exhausting process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a non renovator too. If the house works for you, why change it? Renovations are huge $$$. I truly doubt anyone thinks about this at all as long as you do regular maintenance and keep your property nice.

Back to say - if I’m passing judgement on anyone, it’s the habitual renovators who upgrade kitchens to follow trends. So wasteful.

[Anonymous]

I would not think anything of it. Unless your home is messy or I see a cat jump on the counter, I am just happy to be invited.

-lives in a new construction house in Arlington

[Anonymous]

I'm in your exact situation, and I certainly wouldn't think less of you. But plenty of other people do. Or maybe not less, but they are so into keeping up with the Joneses or something that they look down on you. I have a good friend who is a realtor who tried to convince me that I need to update my kitchen for resale value. But I'm not moving! For 20 years, probably, in which case, any renovation I do now will be outdated, or if missing middle goes through (I'm in Arlington), my house will be fodder for a developer regardless of what my kitchen looks like. And my kitchen is fine, it's just middle-of-the-road as opposed to high-end.

You have more sense than any of the neighbors who look down on you, but I think you already know that.

[Anonymous]

I live in a tiny house in Bethesda where homes go for 2M+ nowadays, and we have never put an addition on our house, or even put the finishing touches on the renovation we did more than a decade ago when we bought this very decrepit little place. Meanwhile, some neighbors have razed their old houses and built completely new and twice or three times as big.

It doesn't bother me at all. Only in the USA would this question be asked. Why is an "outdated" kitchen a problem? Why do you HAVE to update? What if you like the previous style, or another, "non-trendy" one? 13 years ago, we renovate to a very particular cottage style that I love and don't want to change. It's not trendy at all, but it suits my house and makes me happy. No other house that I've seen has that style, and I like to be original.

So no worries, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not think anything of it. Unless your home is messy or I see a cat jump on the counter, I am just happy to be invited.

-lives in a new construction house in Arlington

It's what cats do, PP. Most are not trainable, unlike dogs. If you go into a home with cats, just know they've been everywhere.