Which would you rather do?

We *may* be coming into some money by the end of the year.

DH and I have been tossing back and forth some ideas. Which do you think you would do.

1) Keep the current house -

dormer out the top and do major renovations to the bathroom and kitchen and basement

2) Knock the whole house down and completely rebuild

3) Hope to sell in this market and buy a brand new house

If anyone has any experience with knocking down the house and completely rebuilding I would love to hear about it. TIA!

Re: Which would you rather do?

I think it depends on the location and piece of property. If you knocked it down how different would you make it? And would it still "fit" in the neighborhood. That would be my last option, b/c your taxes are going to sky rocket. I would either add on, if you like the location and want to be there forever, or move all together.

Re: Which would you rather do?

it depends... do you love your neighborhood? if you renovate, will you be doing to much and price yourself out of the neighborhood?

Re: Which would you rather do?

Personally if I liked where I lived I would do complete renovations to bath and kitchen and dormer out. I would absolutely not sell in this market. If you were to tear down and rebuild, where would you live. The entire process will take more than an year to accomplish. Could you wait it out?

Re: Which would you rather do?

it depends, but I def wouldn't resell in this market. I would remodel and build a dormer.

Re: Which would you rather do?

personally, i would rather move... but that is because there are other towns that i would rather live in if money was something that i didnt have to worry about...

Re: Which would you rather do?

If I acquire enough to ask this question, I get the hell out of NY and live in the sunshine..........

SELL, SELL, SELL....

Message edited 8/7/2007 1:18:22 PM.

Re: Which would you rather do?

You should do an analysis and see which will be most cost effective, consider first location, taxes, costs to renovate and compare to what is available in the market.

Re: Which would you rather do?

I would knock it down and rebuild it exactly how you want it to be!


ETA: do some renos on the existing house and buy a summer house.

Message edited 8/7/2007 2:05:09 PM.

Re: Which would you rather do?

depends upon your neighborhood, how well your home matches up with other homes near by, and what the value of the property vs the structure is...

if you have a small home in a $$$ neighborhood, with a large piece of property, it likely will be worth it to build on or rebuild.

If your home matches the neighborhood well, and the property location and value is not the central selling point to your property, I'd sell and move.

Rebuilding a home is a major inconvenience. you basically have to rent for about a year while it goes on... also something to think about....

Re: Which would you rather do?

I wouldn't knock down and rebuild without investiagating the tax implication. Taxes on new construction in my neighborhood seem to be about double older houses.

Re: Which would you rather do?

I definitely would not knock down and rebuild.

If I liked the area I would first look for another house that fit my needs in the same location. If I couldn't find that, I would then do some work to the current house to make it better.

Re: Which would you rather do?

I like where we are. I don't know about love. Can I see myself here in 50 years, sure. My neighbors all around are very nice and friendly.

My DH wants to sell and buy new. I know how the market is, but he is kind of thickheaded when it comes to certain things. He sees our house as "old" but we have done a decent amount to it already.

Re: Which would you rather do?

For me it would depend on how much you like the current house location

Re: Which would you rather do?

I absolutely would not knock down and rebuild. If you're sure you want to stay awhile I'd probably just update as much as possible. If you dormer your taxes will still go up quite a bit. IMO, the taxes in WB are pretty high to begin with.

How long have you owned the house? Maybe you could put it on the market and see what happens. If selling doesn't work out, could you buy and rent out this house?

Re: Which would you rather do?

I wouldn't knock down and rebuild or do major a renovations. Can you imagine going through that with two little ones? I would look for a house that better met my needs in the price range I can now afford. Also, you don't have to run out and spend the money; you could take your time and have it grow.

Re: Which would you rather do?

Re: Which would you rather do?

Sell what you have and buy the house you really want. Forget big time rennovations or rebuilds if you have small children. The inconvenience and mess will make you crazy.

Re: Which would you rather do?

Even if you come into money, you still want to invest it "wisely".

1/ I would not tear down a house and rebuild it.

2/ if you want to remodel/do the dormers, you still have to make sure that you don't "over" redo your house compared to your local market. For example, you don't want to do a $150K renovation on a house that is valued at about $450 now in a similar priced neighborhood. It would be hard to sell a house for $600K in a $450K market. While you would enjoy the house, you would never recoup on your investment.

3/I would see how much the renovation of the current house would cost vs. buying another house (bigger and remodeled already).

Re: Which would you rather do?

I choose other. What about keeping the current house as a rental and purchasing something new. Is that an option?

Re: Which would you rather do?

Re: Which would you rather do?

Posted by melijane

Posted by Tine73

I would knock it down and rebuild it exactly how you want it to be!


ETA: do some renos on the existing house and buy a summer house.

this is probably what I would do too and the 2nd house could always be a place to retire too. I would also start some sort of investment for my children(if I had any )