5 Signs You Should Renovate the House You’re Living In – HouseBeautiful.com

How do you know if your current digs have potential to become your dream home? Its a question familiar to Victoria Sass, who founded her Minneapolis-area design firm Project Refuge Studio with a focus on renovations that keep young families in old homes. We get people who want to know, Should I invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in this house or not? she says. At some point, its not a good investment if what you really want is a different house. Its like a marriage: Is this the one, or are you trying to make it into something itll never be? Here are five signs you should stay right where you are, and renovate the house to make it suit your needs.

Whether its the home, neighborhood, school system or other local ties, a deep emotional connection to the property is worth listening to. Thats a really good reason to take the time to change your space to make it suit your needs, says Laura Fenton, author of The Little Book of Living Small. For those clients, we suggest renovation to increase square footage and fit their lifestyle, adds designer Juliana Oliveira, the principal of Dallas firm Beyond Interior Design.

Spending money on a property youre already invested in offers more potential to create additional value. With a renovation, you get a lot more bang for your buck in terms of finishes, says Oliveira. There may be some reconstruction costs, but more of your money will go to details that create a lasting impact. A 2019 study by the National Association of Realtors Research Group estimated that a homeowner could expect to recover between 50 and 60 percent of the cost of most renovation projects in the value of the homea $75,000 boost in value on a $150,000 renovation of a new owners suite, for example. (The biggest impact? Replacing or refinishing wood flooring, which saw a return of 100 to 106 percent.) That said, where you renovate matters if youve got resale in mind: Less than 1 percent of real estate professionals said that a new owners suite helped close a sale, while 20 percent reported that a kitchen upgrade sealed the deal for new buyers.

Old homes often come with quirks and charm that cant be replicated by a new build, even with antiqued or upcycled finishes. Whether its a wonky window or the fact that there are no right angles anywhere, if a homes imperfectionsor at least some of thembring you joy, you should stay.

If youre looking to start fresh due to a temporary dissatisfaction with a home you otherwise love, its probably worth making small adjustments and weathering the storm. A friend of Fentons nearly moved out of a beloved Brooklyn two-bedroom because their teens no longer wanted to share a room. I said, Wait a second. Your daughters going to be moving out in four yearsdo you really want to give up this apartment and neighborhood you love for a relatively short season of life? she recalls. They decided to do a light renovation, and theyre so happy they invested in the home they already have rather than look for a bigger one.

In many parts of the country, build-ready lots are in short supply. As developers struggle to keep up with demand, it drives up land prices and makes it difficult for families to move up to a bigger, newly constructed home, says Clark. If this is the case in your area, a major renovation may be a more cost-effective solution.

Living long-term on a construction site is far from ideal. And even if you think you want to tough it out amid the dust and the noise, designers suggest having a plan B just in case. Clients who think that they can live in the home during a renovation and dont have a backup plan on where they could temporarily stay is a red flag for me, says Oliveira. (Contractors dont like interrupting your life any more than you like having them in their spaceand if theyre tiptoeing around you and your family, youre going to pay for it, adds Irving. If they have to come in, set up and then pack up day after day, its a lot less efficient for everyone, and it may be worth the cost of getting out of your house for a bit.)

No matter how closely you hew to your budget, the costs of a renovation can be staggeringespecially if youve encountered one of those aforementioned unpleasant surprises along the way. Sass says budget fatigue often sets in as the project is winding down. People will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars restructuring a space and doing engineering modifications, she says. But then they go really cheap on something like the knobs on their cabinets. That fixture might feel like a big splurge [after a costly renovation], but in the grand scope of the whole project, that's the piece that you're going to see and pass on to the next generation. Don't skimp on that at the end of the day just because you're tired of spending money.

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5 Signs You Should Renovate the House You're Living In - HouseBeautiful.com