How to convince spouse home renovations make financial sense

[Anonymous]

OP's petulant behavior aside, I'm still amazed that so many people do not factor in these types of costs when making purchase decisions.

Everything in your home breaks down over time. People say you need to plan for 1% of the home price annually in maintenance, but when you factor in things like the OP wants (furniture and some cosmetic upgrades, it's probably more like 2%). You want a $1M house? Better make sure you can set aside $20K per year to maintain it over time -- apart from your mortgage, property taxes, utilities, cleaners, etc.

It's one reason I paid off my mortgage early: homes are still your biggest expense even without a mortgage. I wanted my house to be "just" my biggest expense instead of an overwhelming part of my expenditures.

[Anonymous]

OP, I haven't read all the responses but paying a contractor for renovations is rarely a good investment.

Learn to DIY some stuff. YouTube has videos for everything. Pay someone to fix gutters, replace windows, and paint exterior. Figure out the rest yourself. You can paint the interior, replace cabinets and doors, replace foyer tile, etc.

Go to craigslist and facebook buy nothing groups to get free or inexpensive used furniture that looks better than yours.

[Anonymous]

You chose travel over the house by your own admission. Now you are in the college years and it doesn’t sound like you are financially prepared for that, so until you’ve got that squared away, that needs to be your focus. Peeling exterior paint can be sanded and repainted easily enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, what I did was maintained a small savings account for replacing furniture and doing home maintenance. When we bought the house, we considered what needed to be done with what regularity, did the math, and set aside money monthly. Then we draw from that account as needed. It's not an exact science, but it works pretty well. Can you get your DH on board with that approach?

We do this also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much will the monthly payment on the HELOC be? You say you don’t have much wiggle room to cut back so I’m wondering how you plan to finance the new debt.

HHI in low $300s with a $1700 mortgage payment currently. We save plenty each month (bc we don’t have car payments, cleaning service, landscapers, etc.). Plenty goes into retirement and college savings/tuition. Both of us have pensions.

I think my spouse is being too conservative.

Okay but you didn’t answer the question. What monthly recurring expense are you trying to take on by borrowing against equity? $800/mo? $1000/mo?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not expect to get a lot of return on 15 year old renovations

Selling a house 15 years from now with original 1980s everything or with 2023 updates are the options.

Which is better?

I think we will need to heavily discount a home with 1980s fixtures. I think we can rather easily maintain a renovated house (particularly since we no longer have very young children). And we could enjoy our home rather than be embarrassed by it.

If you are in a highly desirable neighborhood, 15 years from now people will be looking to demolish your old house, so it wouldn’t matter to them that you updated your toilet

[Anonymous]

See a financial advisor that charges an hourly rate who can tell you if you are on track for retirement and college savings and can afford it. I don’t think anyone here knows enough about the details of your situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much will the monthly payment on the HELOC be? You say you don’t have much wiggle room to cut back so I’m wondering how you plan to finance the new debt.

HHI in low $300s with a $1700 mortgage payment currently. We save plenty each month (bc we don’t have car payments, cleaning service, landscapers, etc.). Plenty goes into retirement and college savings/tuition. Both of us have pensions.

I think my spouse is being too conservative.

Okay but you didn’t answer the question. What monthly recurring expense are you trying to take on by borrowing against equity? $800/mo? $1000/mo?

We could easily take on a new $1k/month payment. We could also pay cash for the renovations.

We purposely didn’t buy a more expensive house than we could afford. That’s why our mortgage is only $1700 (actually slightly less).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:See a financial advisor that charges an hourly rate who can tell you if you are on track for retirement and college savings and can afford it. I don’t think anyone here knows enough about the details of your situation.

We have a FA. We both have pensions plus other investments for retirement. College is mostly covered already (plus an inheritance that will nicely cover it and then some if we need to front the costs).

Bottom line: partner is more conservative than I am when it comes to renovations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You chose travel over the house by your own admission. Now you are in the college years and it doesn’t sound like you are financially prepared for that, so until you’ve got that squared away, that needs to be your focus. Peeling exterior paint can be sanded and repainted easily enough.

Prediction ... OP will be on the College Forum expressing her shock how they are not able to afford their kids' college tuitions. But at least she will be tapping away at her keyboard in her newly renovated home!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:See a financial advisor that charges an hourly rate who can tell you if you are on track for retirement and college savings and can afford it. I don’t think anyone here knows enough about the details of your situation.

We have a FA. We both have pensions plus other investments for retirement. College is mostly covered already (plus an inheritance that will nicely cover it and then some if we need to front the costs).

Bottom line: partner is more conservative than I am when it comes to renovations.

Enough already OP. Just do your renovations. Deal with your husband (good luck on the future of your marriage there)
Not sure what you want from all of us at this point

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don’t know your college tuition situation. That’s the big one.

Renovations that you pay a contractor to do are not going to be a good investment, ever. They may be justified, for sure. It sounds like they are. But you are wrong if you think they’ll be a good financial investment.

Pay for them in cash as you go. Don’t borrow more money with all this tuition on the horizon.

Alternatively, since your youngest is almost out of the nest, just sell this place and move somewhere that’s turnkey in a couple years. Let a flipper, or someone who will will really need your old neighborhood and schools, take the financial hit changing the 1980s kitchen.

We have 7 years before the youngest goes to college, so we can’t move. We love the neighborhood. New construction in our area is well north of $1M. All the resales aren’t turnkey. They are other people’s renovations from a decade or so ago precisely because people renovate so they can enjoy it.

We will get good money for our home when we sell down the road because we have the largest model with bells and whistles that other homes don’t have. Plus our lot and Street are highly desirable.

Sigh. I guess I’ll continue to live in squalor.

Sounding a bit dramatic OP.
Regardless, I am guessing that with your husband is focused on the fact that you are already dealing with a college tuition and have TWO more to go. It does not sound like you have those tuitions fully funded or do you? If not, your husband is being way more financially responsible and I give him credit for putting your kids first. Giving your kids the incredible gift of no or little college debt vs. an updated house is a no brainer - invest in your kids.

At some point we both have pensions and investments that will support us quite nicely in retirement. If we borrow now and downsize later, I think the math works in favor of renovations now.

Someday we will land in a 2 bedroom condo or a simple 3 bedroom SFH in a much lower cost area.

Plus, there’s a modest inheritance on the horizon in the next 5-10 years (that would likely cover college tuition for all kids).

A “modest” inheritance equal to college tuition for three kids? Please don’t count on this, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:See a financial advisor that charges an hourly rate who can tell you if you are on track for retirement and college savings and can afford it. I don’t think anyone here knows enough about the details of your situation.

We have a FA. We both have pensions plus other investments for retirement. College is mostly covered already (plus an inheritance that will nicely cover it and then some if we need to front the costs).

Bottom line: partner is more conservative than I am when it comes to renovations.

OP- some people live to 100! The person may not conveniently die at 86 and give you the funds you need for college. They also may burn through their cash prior to dying (it happens). Don’t count on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not expect to get a lot of return on 15 year old renovations

Selling a house 15 years from now with original 1980s everything or with 2023 updates are the options.

Which is better?

I think we will need to heavily discount a home with 1980s fixtures. I think we can rather easily maintain a renovated house (particularly since we no longer have very young children). And we could enjoy our home rather than be embarrassed by it.

If you are in a highly desirable neighborhood, 15 years from now people will be looking to demolish your old house, so it wouldn’t matter to them that you updated your toilet

+1. ILs took out HELOC to do renovations 15-20 years ago and now they’re selling a house that needs updates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not expect to get a lot of return on 15 year old renovations

Selling a house 15 years from now with original 1980s everything or with 2023 updates are the options.

Which is better?

I think we will need to heavily discount a home with 1980s fixtures. I think we can rather easily maintain a renovated house (particularly since we no longer have very young children). And we could enjoy our home rather than be embarrassed by it.

If you are in a highly desirable neighborhood, 15 years from now people will be looking to demolish your old house, so it wouldn’t matter to them that you updated your toilet

+1. ILs took out HELOC to do renovations 15-20 years ago and now they’re selling a house that needs updates.

They’ll probably get more than their neighbor who never renovated.

Are you saying that renovating kitchens and bathrooms that are 15-20 years old is a need?