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Moving out vs. Adding-on

If you have purchased a home and started a family, you may seem like everything is just dandy. That is until your family starts to grow and you realize you need to make some changes.

So this is where the age old question comes into play, should you sell your home and move into a bigger property, or just add-on to the one you are already in.

Lew Sichelman from The Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch attempts to answer this question in his article entitled, “Should you move out or add on to your house?”

This age old question has plagued many homeowners who have wondered what to do about their housing situation once their family grew.

There are many factors to take into consideration, and this can be a very difficult decision to make, with various pros and cons to each alternative.

“ Whether to move or remodel is the age old "chicken or egg" question of real estate. But it isn't only a monetary one. For starters, consider the disruption that a major renovation can cause. Depending on the extent of what you do to make your small two-bedroom bungalow more livable, you and your family could be in for an extended unsettled period. Of course, moving can be traumatic, too. But at least you can plan for what lies ahead, and the actual move -- save for the unpacking -- is over fairly quickly.”

A move seems like the easier choice, because an addition can take months to complete. You also have to be aware of a couple of other factors that most would not think about.

“Another thing to consider when remodeling is that you want to be certain you don't over improve for the neighborhood. If you make yours the largest, best-equipped house on the block, you're not likely to get as large a bang for your renovation buck at resale time because the other houses will tend to hold values down.”

A family who is faced with this dilemma must also take into consideration the location of their new home. If they found a bigger home right down the street, that would be quite easy, but it is also probably not the case.

If your potential new home is in a different location there are a lot of different variables to keep in mind.

“As far as moving farther out is concerned, I'd take a hard look at any possible extra commuting time you and/or your husband may incur. That not only puts more wear and tear on the old jalopy, it puts more mileage on the both of you at a time when you are raising two and soon to be three young kids. Do you want to take more time away from them? And speaking on the children, are the best schools available to you where you live now? Or are they better where you are thinking about moving.”

The author cautions that the most important part of this is that you and your family are happy and comfortable in your new home.

There is no point in re-locating if you are not going to be happy. You should think about what is best for your family as a whole when deciding between moving and adding-on.

“First and foremost, a house is a roof over your heads. The investment aspect, while certainly important, should be secondary. Besides, neighborhoods, like bars and restaurants, run cold as well as hot. And who knows, the new neighborhood -- if that ends up being your choice -- could see even greater appreciation that the one you're in now.”

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