At some point, you’ll find that your current home is not big enough anymore. You may have gotten a baby, or two, taken some of your in-laws in, or you’ve simply started to crave for a bigger backyard and a spacious garage. Either way, bigger space suddenly becomes a requirement, and you can’t make up your mind whether you should find a new place to live in, or extend the current residence. You should consider a couple of factors before deciding, so make sure you think everything through before engaging into any project.
Moving
Moving is, on the one hand, a great excitement and a completely new experience for you and your family. On the other hand, it can take a lot of time before you can find a new home that fits all of your requirements. What’s more, you can never know how much time it’ll take for you to sell your old home, so that you’d have enough money to buy a new one.
Additionally, buying a house that someone has already lived in carries certain risks. This is especially true if you don’t know the previous owners, and are not sure in what condition they’ve left the house. Therefore, it’s always a good idea to hire a home inspector that will walk you through the house and check every part of the property to make sure nothing is wrong. You should walk along with them and make the necessary checks yourself as well, since anyone can overlook something. It would be horrible to move in and find out that the water heater is completely ruined and unusable. So, moving into a new home can be really stressful and time consuming.
Not only is it time consuming, but expensive as well. Fees for the sale of your property, survey fees, solicitors’ fees, removals costs, and stamp duty on the property you are buying are just some of the things you’ll need to pay. Once you decide to sell your house and move to another one, stamp duty will cost 1% of the value up to $350,000, but 3% for houses of $350,000 to $650,000. Additionally, when you buy a new house, you’ll probably need to invest some money into redecoration or renovation.
However, moving into a new home can give you the opportunity to meet new people, and make new friendships. What’s more, you could choose a home with a bigger backyard, and provide your children with a better space to play and enjoy fresh air.
Extending
Extending a current home also has many benefits, but many bad sides as well. First, you’ll spare your family from an exhausting move. Secondly, you could construct and remodel the house at your own pace, without thinking when you’re going to finish. Even though hiring a roofing contractor and a team of renovation builders that will help you establish the new part of your home will require some money, it will not be as expensive as moving to a new home would.
Nevertheless, some of the extension costs could include an approval from your council and your homeowners association, and obtaining the necessary building permits. Additionally, the extension costs will vary depending on the house location, the type of structure your home is, and how complicated the entire process is. To provide an example, you might need to find some kind of storage solution for your things while the project is underway if you don’t have enough room to relocate those things elsewhere. If you’ve envisioned an entire additional floor with two bedrooms, a bathroom and a balcony, this may take months to construct, decorate and finish. Furthermore, you must be prepared for the fact that you won’t be able to use a certain part of the house during the extension process.
Making a decision between moving and extending a home isn’t easy. However, try to keep all the facts in mind before you choose which measures to take. Keep your family’s best interest in mind and think about how much money you’ll be able to spend on either of the options. While moving may require a considerably larger amount of money, it can be better if you decide to move to a more comfortable or safer area. Extending a home may seem as a more suitable option if you’re capable of doing the job yourself, or hiring a team and supervising while doing the job in your own time. No matter which option you choose, just make sure it’ll make you and your family happy and satisfied.