Move or addition?

[Anonymous]

In this economy, would you move or put an addition on your house for more space (leaving schools out of the equation)? I say this with the idea that you have $$ to use to either move or build on.

[Anonymous]

Depends on how much equity you have in your house. If you have a lot, and can therefore make a lot when if you sell, then move!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In this economy, would you move or put an addition on your house for more space (leaving schools out of the equation)? I say this with the idea that you have $$ to use to either move or build on.

You can't ignore location. We bought in agreat area beofre the prices went way up, the market has remained level during the turndown, and houses priced properly sell in a weekend. If we were to move, we would have to move way out becuase the equity we have would get us into a decent house in our neighborhood but we woudl still need to renovate it, if you are going to renovate, why not jsut stay where you are and make your curent house the one you want?

If you move it isn;t jsu tthe % you pay the real estate agent, look at the transfer taxes, the moving costs etc etc

[Anonymous]

OP here. Our issue is that everyone who has added on or done Major/massive renovations has priced themselves out of the running (way out). We would literally be adding 1/2 a second level (we have a split level) and adding on the back of the house (2 stories as well). It might make it so we would have to take a large loss if we ever moved. Didn't realize this when we bought (been in the house 7 years and are now in need of more living space).

[Anonymous]

Do you really love your neighborhood? Are the schools great? is the commute great? Can you find what you want in yours or a similar neighborhood for about the same amount more than it would cost you to renovate?

Consider the cost of moving to be 6% in fees to sell your current place, plus a small amount of fees to buy a new place, plus the cost of the move. Would you lose more than that if you had to sell a renovated house at a not-super-awesome price?

[Anonymous]

This is asked every week on DCUM.

Depends on the location and the neighbors. If you like both, do NOT move. Also, do NOT price yourself out of the neighborhood, or you will regret it. You never know what might come up that you may have to move next year without seeing it.

[Anonymous]

We did this. However, we stuck to an addition that did not exceed the amount of equity we had in the house before the addition. This was a way of not pricing ourselves out of the market -- and since we'd owned the house for a while, it was possible.

Now, even though housing prices have declined in our area, we still have some equity in our improved house.

[Anonymous]

OP again. We remodeled when we first moved in (new kitchen b/c floor was damaged by termites, and other more than cosmetic issues going on) and we did not price ourselves out at that point. We really feel that any addition beyond something like a sunroom will make it so we can never leave without taking a rather significant loss. For the record, we need more space (right now no office or guestroom or play area for the kids that is separate from the main living area). we are not crazy about the schools and the commute sucks. We bought what we could afford and figured on 5 years. Looks like it will be more like 10-12 years or longer at this point.