What would you do? Buy new house or renovate existing house?
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Anonymous
| As someone who grew up in a home with horrible neighbor's that caused my parents insane amounts of stress, don't underestimate the value of great neighbors. |
Anonymous
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I agree with others that you seriously don't want to underestimate the value of a good neighborhood and neighbors. And less than a mile isn't a lot, but I made the same move as a kid and we lost touch with most people. We made new friends, it was fine! and good in its own way! But if you move you should go in accepting that despite still being close, it will drastically shift those relationships. When your daily routine shifts, it just does. If you don't have the impromptu connections, it makes a difference.
I like being creative with smaller spaces so am bias to staying. I would also make sure you really NEED all the renovation you are thinking of. Start with the basement, that will get you some good bang for your buck with more space for the kids and their friends. And get creative. Make sure your furniture really fits the home you have. It sounds silly, but I found a huge difference in being really careful with furniture purchases after we did some renovation that added some space, but our house is still small especially be DCUM standards - much of the furniture out there is meant for these 5000 sq houses. You try to put it in our 1500-2500 sq foot house and your house starts to feel smaller. |
Anonymous
OP here - this is what makes me the most nervous. While we do have friends and know some of the neighbors in the new house it would be different than now obviously. The new house is close enough to walk to our old neighbors but of course our day to day interactions would change. |
Anonymous
| We are in similar situation. We bought one of the last tear-downs, renovated, but it's tiny. Covid pushed our limits. We both work from home so need dedicated offices. We are closein, a lot of land, bordering woods, in a splendid neighborhood, have a great rate on a smaller mortgage. It's all perfect, except the house. We have plans to substantially add on to existing and will end up with a 2.75 valued home (similar to others in the neighborhood). It will cost us around 900 to get there. But our all in for that will be around 1.6 million and to get anything comparable in our neighborhood would be 2.5 million. So for us, given the other intangibles that we would have to sacrifice, the #s make a lot of sense. |
Anonymous
| 2600 sq ft is a lot of space. Is it a layout issue? |
Anonymous
Is it within the same neighborhood, as in same little small subset of neighborhood? Ours was truly less than a mile too but it was a different neighborhood and in my case a different elementary school so that definitely shifted everything. If you are truly going to be at the same pool, the same schools, the same sports teams, I'm sure friendships can be maintained but if your kids are close with the neighbor kids that can't really be replicated and will shift in some ways. I think that type of relationship is frankly priceless if that's what you have and worth being a little more snug. Move out for the renovation if you do the kitchen and everything but keep your place long term. |
Anonymous
OP here - no the layout is pretty good. We just have a lot of people in the house and need more space. DH and I both work from home and need dedicated office space (apart from each other) and our kids are close in age so will be getting larger and taking up more space. 3 kids who are under 5 years apart, so they will all be teenagers in the house together. |
Anonymous
OP - that is what my husband and I are weighing. It is almost impossible to find a 4000+ sq ft house in our neighborhood that is under $1.5 million. I feel like this is a steal that might not come around again. On the flip side we love our neighbors and being able to walk to each others houses. It is the same pool, same school, same sports teams and we have very close friends who would be a stones throw from the new house as well. But obviously it would just be different to not live next to the same neighbors we have lived next to for a decade. |
Anonymous
not really, i recommend 1000sf/family member |
Anonymous
Wow. My FIL grew up in a family of 5 in a 1000 square foot house (may have included the not done basement) with only one bathrooms. All three siblings grew up into successful, lovely people who are all pretty go with the flow. Granted, my FIL will only live in homes where you can’t see the neighbors property, but his siblings aren’t like that. I also lived all over the world where multi-generational families cram into small spaces. I live in a 2000 square foot house, so maybe I just have a different view. Adding an addition will be a lot more than $200k. Good neighbors are priceless. Think it over and decide what’s best for your family. A large addition renovation can be a lot of work. Could you move out when it was being done? |
Anonymous
Rubbish. |
Anonymous
If the layout is pretty good and you have 2600 feet can you explain why you feel like there is no way you could make it work with a finished basement? I totally understand the feeling and the pull like "we will NEED the space when they are teenagers!" as i also live in a small house (good bit smaller than yours but only have two kids so that is different), but I try to remind myself that this is a pretty firmly American phenomena that we think each person needs so much square footage. with a good layout 2600 sq feet would usually be a good amount. So what is the current squeeze? Sounds like the work from home? We just finished the basement in our smaller home for this reason. Husband works in the basement. I work in the small sunroom. Could two of your kids share a room so you could use one for an office? |
Anonymous
OP here - yes the work from home makes it much more difficult. It just feels like we are all on top of each other all the time. Two oldest kids share a room but it is tight and over stuffed with all of their things. Youngest is in the smallest room in the house and can barely fit a twin size bed. I have one of the rooms as an office that doubles as a guest room. Realistically we need all 3 kids in separate rooms (personality clashes between oldest two) and two separate office spaces plus a guest room for when guests come. The guest room is a want, not a need, but we have a lot of family who come and stay with us and we would really like to have space to host them. |
Anonymous
So next generation can be our last?? |
Anonymous
I think the 1000sf per person was being sarcastic |