Homeowners: Selling vs Remodeling Your Home. What are the Pros and Cons?
Your home is where your heart is, and for so many homeowners, it’s a lot more than a saying. Your home is the place where you make many memories with family, friends, and loved ones. Selling your home can be extremely painful. But what do you do if your home is no longer meeting your needs?
Pros and Cons: Remodel vs Sell
Can you simply remodel your existing home into the house of your dreams? Remodeling your home can get costly and if no amount repairs can fix what your home is missing, selling may be the better option. It’s a hard decision to make, there are many considerations that can help you decide which is the right choice for you and your family.
How Close Is Your Home to Perfect?
Sometimes, the changes you need to make your home right for today are small. For example, if you’re planning on aging in place, but all the bedrooms are upstairs, you might be able to add a small bedroom suite to the back or side of your home on the main floor, depending on the layout. This would allow you to continue to stay in your home, even if trips up the stairs were increasingly infrequent as you aged.
On the other hand, if your remodel is more about a totally whole new look or going from a space that’s largely compartmentalized to entirely open concept, that’s a huge change to a house that will require a considerable amount of time, effort, and money. In those cases, it’s usually better to find the house you want and sell the one you’re in.
Is the Neighborhood Thriving or Sliding Down Hill?
If your neighborhood is healthy and thriving, and you love everything about it, it’s definitely worth considering remodeling your home instead of just moving along. You never really know what you’re going to get with a new neighborhood until you live there a while, and besides, you certainly already know some people nearby. That’s a wonderful way to build community.
However, neighborhoods can also deteriorate, and with them go property values, the quality of schools in the area, and sometimes even a sense of safety and security. If you’re pretty sure your neighborhood used to be a lot better and you’re not always comfortable going outside at night anymore, maybe it’s time to look for a different zip code. There’s no amount of remodeling that can fix that particular concern.
Will Your Equity Buy the Home of Your Dreams?
Most importantly, you have to look at the financials. Remodels can take place over years, giving you time to spread out the expense, even if your equity won’t quite cover the costs you think you may incur. So, that dream kitchen might take a little while to become reality, but it’s still possible if the rest of your house makes you happy and you’re willing to wait.
On the other hand, if selling your house could get you closer to the home of your dreams with the equity you’ve secured, you can save yourself a lot of mess and stress by simply moving on to the home you really want. If you’re moving to a different part of your city, or a different area entirely, that equity can easily buy something wholly different and potentially perfect, and maybe even shrink your house payment a little bit.
Sell vs Remodel Checklist
Still Unsure?
If you’re still unsure if remodeling your home is the right path, it’s time to reach out to the real estate professionals. Find a local contractor to receive a quote for the entire remodeling project so you can get an idea of cost, materials, and labor. In addition, have a real estate agent inform you of your home’s current equity, so you can compare remodeling costs with the profit from selling your home. These numbers can greatly assist you in the decision making process. Now that you’ve reviewed the facts, are you leaning towards remodeling your home or putting a for sale sign in your front yard?
Sarah Manning, Realtor®
Texas Ranch & Residential Real Estate
Date Published: September 26th, 2022
