Is it time to renovate or sell your home?
Just like the TV show “Love It Or List It”, this is a real hard hitting question some home owners have to ask themselves when they are planning out their futures. I know I have thought the same thing…
I bought the home I’m in now eleven years ago, but my motivation to buy it then differs from some of the things I need and want in a property now.
At the time, I was running my own business – an event staffing and experiential marketing agency. We had moved the business into my first home when my business partner went on maternity leave. Instead of returning to work, she decided she wanted to exit the business completely.
To offset the cost of the buy out, I decided to keep the business at home. I had a main floor walk out and although the space was small, it was big enough to accompany three of us working. As I experienced some turn over on my team a couple of years later, I decided I needed to move into a bigger house, specifically one with a separate entrance so I could lock off the space for the business from the rest of my home.
I found a five level backsplit just a couple streets away. Although it was more than double the value of the home I’d started out in, it would only cost an extra couple hundred a month since there were no maintenance fees like I’d had with the townhouse.
The catch? It had been well-maintained but needed to be updated. Our first priority was renovating the office. I bridged my mortgage so this work could be completed without interrupting the company.
Next, we moved the existing kitchen to the basement, put in a new kitchen upstairs then continued along with enormous amounts of flooring and painting (five levels is a lot!).
The thing is, in spite of how nicely the home has been updated, I’ll never be able to change the lay out. If I had been looking for a home based on my personal needs/wants, I would’ve found one with an open concept kitchen/living room area, bigger bedrooms and more of them (at least four). Unfortunately with a backsplit, the rooms are pretty fragmented. The kitchen is on it’s own and closer to the front of the house.
When we have family gatherings, a lot of people tend to cram into our small kitchen and during the warmer weather, it’s a bit of a hassle to eat outside simply because it’s further away. We have to go down a few steps and pass through our family room to get to the backyard.
We came close to moving in 2018 but decided not to because of some unsubstantiated concerns about the septic system. Then a year and a half later, the pandemic hit. In spite of the things we don’t love about our home, it’s in a nice location, it’s very close to the highway and it’s also walking distance to a couple of close family members. This is great to have, but even more so during the pandemic. We are also mortgage free so we are grateful we didn’t end up with a new mortgage. That could’ve been very challenging when my event services business was deemed non-essential throughout the several lockdowns that were imposed on the province.
As you have likely guessed by now, we pretty much put our house hunting on hold for the time being. But, enough about me…
If you’ve been looking around your own home and wondering, should I renovate or sell? Here are some things that you can and should consider when debating if it’s time to renovate or sell your home.
As you can probably appreciate, one of the biggest factors to consider will come down to finances.
Is it more costly to renovate and stay or is it going to be more costly to move?
Whether or not one options is more costly than the other depends on your mortgage situation as well as how much money you have saved. Renovations have always been expensive but as we’ve progressed through the pandemic and come out on the other side, the costs of building materials as well as access to them as literally gone through the roof. When you renovate, there are immediate out of pocket expenses you need to contend with. On the other side of the coin, moving can potentially put money into your pocket now but end up costing more down the road.
Finances aside, you may or may not be truly ready to move which brings me to the question –
Are you emotionally prepared to move?
We experience a whole lot of life within our homes. We welcome new family members, sometimes we say good bye to them and memorable milestones are celebrated there. You may look around your home and remember exactly where your child took their first step or said their first word. Maybe you recall a family member as they took their last breath. Whatever the reasons may be, if you haven’t come to terms with the fact that you won’t have the comfort of these memories surrounding you, you may not necessarily be ready to move on. Moving can also be stressful so you need to be ready for that as well.
If you’re thinking about whether or not to renovate or sell your home, another super important question is –
Is now a good time to buy and sell?
We’ve been in an extremely fast paced seller’s market for a few years now and although it’s softening, it’s important to take a close (and realistic) look at what you could sell your home for as well as what you will need to spend to get into a new property. This said, when the market slows down, often times what you are buying will cost less so you don’t have to be overly worried about selling for less – unless you’re considering a sizeable upgrade. The location you’re moving to is also important since that would impact your purchasing power also. Lastly, timing is important here too. The market has been a bit backwards in the past couple of years with homes selling faster in fall/winter, but traditionally, they tend to sell more quickly in the spring/summer.
Is the timing right for you and your family to renovate or sell your home?
Depending on the stage you’re at in your life, the timing of a potential renovation or move is very important. If you have a young family for example, living through a renovation can be very stressful, even perhaps more stressful than a move. There is copious amounts of dust/debris to live with, you could be missing access to your washroom(s) or kitchen for extended periods of time, and your finances could be stretched. This doesn’t mean that moving is stressless, but it may be less stressful than a renovation during this given period of time.
Alternatively, if you have school aged children, moving, especially to a new area, may not be ideal in the middle of a school year. This will not only disrupt your child or children’s education and routine but also activities they are enrolled in, their friendships etc.
Sometimes people really love an area but just want a better or different house. Let’s look at some of the positive factors associated with relocation.
Real Estate Investment.
One of the biggest perks about buying a new home is that you can use the equity from your current home to upgrade, if that’s what you choose to do. If it’s worth more now than what you own, it may be a good time to sell. Ideally, you should have enough equity to pay off your mortgage, cover all of the associated closing costs as well as pay for moving expenses and put money down on the new property.
Alternatively, if you’ve been thinking about downsizing, then that’s ok too. Sometimes this makes the most sense financially. In other cases, it could be because you are having a hard time maintaining the size of the property you own now. Owning a home can be a lot of work, especially when you have a sizeable yard to take care of in addition to the house.
This brings me to my next point –
It’s Time To Move On.
When you live in the same space and place for a long time, you may start to feel a little stuck in life. Some people feel very content at home, especially the longer they’ve been there but this isn’t true for everyone. Sometimes the grass could really be greener, you know what I mean. A change of scenery can be exciting to gain a fresh perspective and improve for overall mental health and wellbeing. Start writing down the things you like and don’t like about where you live to come up with a clear picture of where you’d like to be. The amenities in the surrounding area are just as important as the house itself.
Less Stress.
Whether you’re thinking about renovating or selling your home, there is going to be a modicum of stress involved. It just depends on how much and for how long you’re willing to tolerate it. At the bare minimum, most smaller renos can take a few weeks to a month. To gut an entire home, you could be looking at 3-6 months. When my husband and I moved into our current home, we spent about four months renovating almost daily then scaled it back over a few months. We even put off a few final projects for seven years (yes, seven!). There are even a few things now that still need to be taken care of and eleven years has passed. If you’re doing the work yourself, you may save some money but you have to be mindful of the time it will take to get the job done. Moving can avoid this stress entirely.
Now that we’ve looked at some of the positives, let’s review some of the con’s.
Costs of Moving.
Make no butts about it, moving costs money! If you have equity built up in your home, you may not feel all of the costs associated with moving. If you haven’t been in your home for long however, you could be facing a loss when you consider professional fees, legal fees, land transfer taxes and the physical cost of relocating your belongings.
Moving Can Be Very Stressful.
If you bought a new home at the beginning of the year and hadn’t sold your house yet, you may have found the stress that goes along with moving even more stressful than usual. You could’ve been faced with buying high and selling low, not an ideal situation to be in at all.
Did you know that an average of six in ten people find moving to be one of the most stressful life events, even ahead of breaks as well as divorce? If you haven’t fully come to terms with the idea of moving, take a close look at your work and family responsibilities first. If this is going to add an undue layer of stress when you already have stressful things happening in your life, it could be best to put this off for a bit.
There Is A lot of Time Involved.
Depending on what kind of house you want and where you want to live, it could take quite some time to find exactly what you’re looking for. You could be looking at dozens and dozens of properties before you find “the one”. And even once you’ve found it, you may need to spend more time with a home inspection, potentially buying new furniture, and lots of paperwork.
Now that we’ve take a closer look at the pro’s and con’s of relocating, let’s also review the same for renovations.
Personalized to your Preferences.
You may have a house you really like already, it could just need to be remodeled or updated. As noted above, this doesn’t come without work or money but if you like the house overall, love your area and neighbours, then this may be the best “quick fix”. Better yet, you get to pick everything out – just the way you like it.
If you’ve been trying to decide if it’s time to renovate or sell your home and are leaning towards selling, let’s chat! I can be reached at 647-896-6584, by email at info@serenaholmesrealtor.com or by filling in this simple contact form.
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