Full gut renovation or buy new

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would choose a nicely renovated 100 year old house with 10 foot ceilings near family over some generic new construction (assuming you’re not planning a custom-build?) in a totally new city far from family.

Being near family alone is invaluable. But also the house/location you describe sounds so much nicer than most of the new construction in this country. It will be way more than 200k though. We spent nearly 300k for a small addition, 3 new baths, kitchen, and siding alone. That was 2 years ago. Prices only going up since then.

But if your mortgage is almost paid off and you can afford it, do it.

Need to keep in mind risk of overimproving for the market. There are neighborhoods in Philadelphia with lovely houses needing major upgrades but spending 300k in renovations will not get you an extra 300k in appreciation.

Yeah, but OP doesn't seem worried about appreciation or future sales. They seem worried about having a mortgage, so the immediate question is how much monthly payment can you afford, and is that going to be more or less than the costs of a renovation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would choose a nicely renovated 100 year old house with 10 foot ceilings near family over some generic new construction (assuming you’re not planning a custom-build?) in a totally new city far from family.

Being near family alone is invaluable. But also the house/location you describe sounds so much nicer than most of the new construction in this country. It will be way more than 200k though. We spent nearly 300k for a small addition, 3 new baths, kitchen, and siding alone. That was 2 years ago. Prices only going up since then.

But if your mortgage is almost paid off and you can afford it, do it.

OP here. House is free and clear, never had a mortgage, bought cash and it was 100% a case of fortune favoring the foolish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You say you don't want to move and take on a mortgage (presumably to stay in the same area?), but this reno is going to be more than $200k. Get an architect and a more realistic estimate of cost. If reno + sale price of your house + renting somewhere else for a year is less than the price of a nearby house, do the reno.

I also don't see why you're worried about a mortgage. You're going to have a decent down payment since you own your home outright. Did you retire young or something?

Helpful framing on moving our for a year. Other option is living with family, but that might be just too close.
Not retired, 30s, plan on working another 20 years. HHI is $280k, one spouse could go make significantly more, but the quality of life balance would suffer. May decide to do it when the kid is a little older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would choose a nicely renovated 100 year old house with 10 foot ceilings near family over some generic new construction (assuming you’re not planning a custom-build?) in a totally new city far from family.

Being near family alone is invaluable. But also the house/location you describe sounds so much nicer than most of the new construction in this country. It will be way more than 200k though. We spent nearly 300k for a small addition, 3 new baths, kitchen, and siding alone. That was 2 years ago. Prices only going up since then.

But if your mortgage is almost paid off and you can afford it, do it.

Need to keep in mind risk of overimproving for the market. There are neighborhoods in Philadelphia with lovely houses needing major upgrades but spending 300k in renovations will not get you an extra 300k in appreciation.

Yeah, this is a good point. I’m thinking of a neighborhood like overbrook with a surplus of huge houses, poor schools, and low/no appreciation. So the question is, would you want to sink that much $ and hassle into a house purely for your own enjoyment. For how long will the grandparents live across the street? In ten years, if they are no longer there, would you want to stay?

Discussed over improvement, but tbh, not really concerned with that. 10 years of living in a home we love, with family close would be a net win, even $500k all in. House is likely going to be passed down to the kid. We don’t need to sell for a down payment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would choose a nicely renovated 100 year old house with 10 foot ceilings near family over some generic new construction (assuming you’re not planning a custom-build?) in a totally new city far from family.

Being near family alone is invaluable. But also the house/location you describe sounds so much nicer than most of the new construction in this country. It will be way more than 200k though. We spent nearly 300k for a small addition, 3 new baths, kitchen, and siding alone. That was 2 years ago. Prices only going up since then.

But if your mortgage is almost paid off and you can afford it, do it.

Need to keep in mind risk of overimproving for the market. There are neighborhoods in Philadelphia with lovely houses needing major upgrades but spending 300k in renovations will not get you an extra 300k in appreciation.

Yeah, but OP doesn't seem worried about appreciation or future sales. They seem worried about having a mortgage, so the immediate question is how much monthly payment can you afford, and is that going to be more or less than the costs of a renovation.

Because we don’t carry a mortgage, if we dropped down to one income, or someone wanted to work on a low paid passion project for a while, that’s possible, someone always an option to SAH.

We can “afford” $5000 a month, factoring in private school, expanded childcare costs, savings and maintaining current quality of life….but that does require either a dual income or one person to go back into a lucrative but intense field.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone, this is as helpful. Sounds like get an architect, structural engineer, deal with construction for the next year and either move or do things in sequence.

If we wanted to buy what we currently have, we’d be priced out of the area, even with the work needed. And I don’t want to live in a bland new development. When the kid gets older and/or when the grandparents decide to move, we’ll revisit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone, this is as helpful. Sounds like get an architect, structural engineer, deal with construction for the next year and either move or do things in sequence.

If we wanted to buy what we currently have, we’d be priced out of the area, even with the work needed. And I don’t want to live in a bland new development. When the kid gets older and/or when the grandparents decide to move, we’ll revisit.

You are inserting a lot of binaries in your decision making. Yes, it's nice grandparents live across the street. But in a major city there are plenty of neighborhoods and exactly how far from your grandparents do you need to go to find decent housing? If we're talking of Philadelphia, it's not a case of having to chose between living across from grandma in South Philadelphia or Overbrook and living way out in Exton (and leaving aside that much of urban Philadelphia is pretty bland in the first place). And how do you know your kid will want the house someday? Expecting to pass down the house is unusual? Is this a family compound situation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't give up the support - I'd do the reno (and did, 15 years ago, and still have no regrets).

I don't know where you are, but in DC, your all in reno would be significantly more than $200,000. Start with an architect, and have them bid out the plans. Then you'll know where you stand, and if you can do it all at once, or piecemeal.

That’s great advice, thank you. I had not considered an architect. We’ve gotten quotes on separate projects, $200k is the higher end all end. We’re planning 30% contingency, so $300k total budget, this would be our forever home.

I cannot stand the use of ‘forever home’. It’s one of the dumbest phrases in regards to buying a home. I guarantee for the vast majority of people that use that term, it is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$200k is not a lot. I am doing a gut reno of a primary bath right now, and it's about $75k. No walls are being moved. I don't think you will be able to redo your first floor and redo all of the bathrooms for under double that. It will be more expensive, but your location is good. I'd probably do the reno because of the grandparents.

Wow! $75k for a bath?! Hope it’s huge and well-outfitted. We replaced a bathroom’s tile floor, toilet, fixtures, and converted a bath to a shower for $10k. We’re in a close-in VA suburb.

OP, people on DCUM vastly overpay for home renovation. There’s no reason to pay $75k for a bathroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$200k is not a lot. I am doing a gut reno of a primary bath right now, and it's about $75k. No walls are being moved. I don't think you will be able to redo your first floor and redo all of the bathrooms for under double that. It will be more expensive, but your location is good. I'd probably do the reno because of the grandparents.

Crazy to think it takes more than a whole years salary for a software engineer/nurse to pay off a bathroom remodel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$200k is not a lot. I am doing a gut reno of a primary bath right now, and it's about $75k. No walls are being moved. I don't think you will be able to redo your first floor and redo all of the bathrooms for under double that. It will be more expensive, but your location is good. I'd probably do the reno because of the grandparents.

Crazy to think it takes more than a whole years salary for a software engineer/nurse to pay off a bathroom remodel.

That's a very high end bathroom remodel or has something problematic. We just got quoted in the DMV for a full gut remodel at 24k and we are moving one wall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$200k is not a lot. I am doing a gut reno of a primary bath right now, and it's about $75k. No walls are being moved. I don't think you will be able to redo your first floor and redo all of the bathrooms for under double that. It will be more expensive, but your location is good. I'd probably do the reno because of the grandparents.

Crazy to think it takes more than a whole years salary for a software engineer/nurse to pay off a bathroom remodel.

That's a very high end bathroom remodel or has something problematic. We just got quoted in the DMV for a full gut remodel at 24k and we are moving one wall.

24k is labor only. I'm not the 75k pp but just did gut reno of a masterbath. Adding all materials and labor, it's coming close to 60k now. We are also in Nova.

[Anonymous]

We literally just remodeled a 6x9 hall bath with medium grade finishes (Kohler) for $22k ($13K labor and $9k materials). Not luxurious but nice. MoCo.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely stay. How is this even a question? Do the renovations slowly, one at a time, from most urgent to least urgent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We literally just remodeled a 6x9 hall bath with medium grade finishes (Kohler) for $22k ($13K labor and $9k materials). Not luxurious but nice. MoCo.

My neighbors just did their large master bath for $18k in Loudoun.