Anonymous
Post 04/20/2017 04:37     Subject: is cheaper to tear down or renovate extensively?
OP, I live in the neighborhood. There are Capes that will go on the market. There are realtors who live in East Bethesda and know this kinda stuff. Maybe they could find you one. Also, consider dropping a note in the mailbox of existing Capes you like. There are long time residents who would much prefer to sell their homes to people who appreciate the old homes and won't raze them. Also important for protecting tree canopy which is important to a lot of folks.

If you bought one of the bungalows (I know the type you described), would you be adding on years from now? Trying to figure out the $$$ but there are certainly Capes for about $100k to $250k more than the small house you described.

Good luck and welcome to the hood!
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2017 20:07     Subject: Re:is cheaper to tear down or renovate extensively?
Anonymous wrote:Bethesda resident here. Usually cheaper to tear down. I know a few friends in the area who have evaluated both options, and always ended up with tearing down. It's complicated to tie into existing and aging systems and structures.


I am in the process now of building new. I tore down an old wood colonial which had 2 bedrooms. We got multiple estimates to add on and gut(plaster walls messy) /reconfigure the upstairs. We wanted new roof, all hw floors and carrera marble kitchen and good hvac. Estimates came in at $400k-$450k plus 10% reserve which did not include basement.

Anyways, my new build is almost $650k(includes site prep) but selections and some design features are neat.
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2017 19:47     Subject: is cheaper to tear down or renovate extensively?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:$500k to gut renovate existing house, and do 2 story addition. Could have rebuilt much bigger house for only slightly more, but we felt the quality would have been way worse in a new build at that price point.


But you would likely have a higher resale value.



That is true but we bought our house at a very good price, so still would make money on our renovated house. Since we plan to stay in this house for many years, we chose to renovate it to our liking while keeping the older "bones" of the house which we love. It would have been near impossible to build a new build that's good quality and had all the details of our older home (hardwood floors throughout, arched doorways, crown molding) at a price point slightly higher than our renovation costs. For our familiar, a a nice quality house that we really like was more important than having a lesser quality new build, even if that meant sacrificing how much we may make in resale.


Bones and your ideas of good quality of bs, but whatever helps you sleep at night[/quote

Have you been inside most new builds in this area? They are not well built at all, have crappy finishes, and use wall to wall carpeting vs hardwood upstairs because it's cheaper. There is no question that houses built over 50 years ago are much better quality and have better detail, than your run of the mill new build in the 1.5-2.2 range.
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2017 19:45     Subject: Re:is cheaper to tear down or renovate extensively?
Bethesda resident here. Usually cheaper to tear down. I know a few friends in the area who have evaluated both options, and always ended up with tearing down. It's complicated to tie into existing and aging systems and structures.
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2017 19:38     Subject: is cheaper to tear down or renovate extensively?
Anonymous wrote:We're adding on - we were quoted $400K to tear down, but $250K to add on what we wanted. Granted, we are not adding on a huge amount, but increasing the size of our house by 1/3, versus building something that takes up the whole lot.

In the end it would cost you $500k to tear down (upgrades, change orders, etc.) vs .... the same $500k or even more to rebuild due to 'unforseen' additional expenses, and the end result would still be a huge compromise.
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2017 19:14     Subject: is cheaper to tear down or renovate extensively?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:$500k to gut renovate existing house, and do 2 story addition. Could have rebuilt much bigger house for only slightly more, but we felt the quality would have been way worse in a new build at that price point.


But you would likely have a higher resale value.



That is true but we bought our house at a very good price, so still would make money on our renovated house. Since we plan to stay in this house for many years, we chose to renovate it to our liking while keeping the older "bones" of the house which we love. It would have been near impossible to build a new build that's good quality and had all the details of our older home (hardwood floors throughout, arched doorways, crown molding) at a price point slightly higher than our renovation costs. For our familiar, a a nice quality house that we really like was more important than having a lesser quality new build, even if that meant sacrificing how much we may make in resale.


Bones and your ideas of good quality of bs, but whatever helps you sleep at night
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2017 19:13     Subject: is cheaper to tear down or renovate extensively?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:$500k to gut renovate existing house, and do 2 story addition. Could have rebuilt much bigger house for only slightly more, but we felt the quality would have been way worse in a new build at that price point.


Wrong, you got snaked


says the anonymous generalist on the internet who knows nothing about the house.
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2017 19:13     Subject: is cheaper to tear down or renovate extensively?
Anonymous wrote:$500k to gut renovate existing house, and do 2 story addition. Could have rebuilt much bigger house for only slightly more, but we felt the quality would have been way worse in a new build at that price point.


Wrong, you got snaked