Remodel, move, or make it work?

[Fjobe]

I would refinance with a different company and stay in the current house.

When I was pg with our 3rd, I had the same thoughts. Our house size is close to yours. Since #3 was born, I cannot tell you how many days we have all been sitting on 1 couch cushion. We really do not need more space - all 3 kids are usually in the same room, anyway.

What has helped us is storage and limiting objects in the house. After number 3 was born, we set up storage in each bedroom. No toy boxes - just toy organizers and shelving units. We also have 2 toy organizers in the closet under our stairs. Those are the only places we have toys. We go through our toys before Christmas and Birthdays and the kids choose what they no longer want to keep to make room for new.

Another thing DH and I have given up is the whole "no kids in our bedroom" deal. I was never allowed in my mother's bedroom growing up,so this is new to me. Our bedroom sort of functions like a den. We have an LCD TV mounted on the wall above the dresser and the kids are allowed to go in there and watch tv.

 

[CandleontheWater]

I would remodel and stay where you are. If you like everything else about the house, put on another bedroom and call it a day. I know that a major addition is no small inconvenience, but neither is moving. It sounds like you have a great set up, and you can always continue to make improvements as needed.

I think you will get a lot of mileage out of adding on to the third bedroom and refinishing the basement as a playroom.

 

[herdtoDisney]

I would stay, also. You have a great location, a low mortgage, and have already done a lot to the place. I'd just finish the basement for a playroom and use the existing bedrooms as bedrooms.

Even if you did move, you'd probably still end up doing work to the new house, because what are the chances of finding one exactly as you like? At least now you've got your place mostly how you want it.

 

[Princess Nancy]

I would stay and maybe my take is a little different.

1. A bigger house costs more to maintain. So remember to factor in those costs.

2. Another child costs more too! My teenagers are costing me an arm and leg.


Which leads to...soon they will be moving out of our rather large home. Dh loves this house. Me? All I can think about is the 2 of us rattling around in this big empty house!

I would love to live next door to my Mom. It will be so helpful to you. When they are teens, your Mom will be right there to "see" what goes on even if she doesn't have to babysit!

Just trying to put the mom of teens spin on the whole thing!

I say improve what you have!!!

 

[starry_solo]

I am still confused why you can't refinance to take advantage of the lower rates and get rid of your PMI at the same time.

OP mentioned she purchased with a first time home buyer's program. If it's through a local public agency or she got some assistance with the down payment, etc., there are terms and conditions in place and one of those is probably that you can't re-finance within so many years unless you have put x amount of money down (not equity, actual money).

 

[punkin]

OP mentioned she purchased with a first time home buyer's program. If it's through a local public agency or she got some assistance with the down payment, etc., there are terms and conditions in place and one of those is probably that you can't re-finance within so many years unless you have put x amount of money down (not equity, actual money).

Thank you. I think that makes sense.

 

[kirstenb1]

I'd finish the basement and consider if it was possible to add a half or full bath down there.

 

[Evi]

My first thought is to stay put. Only because you said you've pretty much renovated the entire house. I feel like with a new house your going to have to start from scratch to make it what you want. Also since you get alone with your inlaws having them so close is a plus.

I'd only suggest moving if you were moving to a better school district. Considering the current economy I would just refinance and stay put. You could refnish the basement and use that as a family play room. Take the current playroom and use it as you need it.

 

[leight]

Op- congrats!

I grew up in a 1400 sq ft house. 3 bedrooms/ 1.5 bath. We were fine as we only had 2 kids but our neighbors had our exact same house and they had 3 girls. The dad built a loft bed over a twin in the 10 x12 bedroom and the two younger girls shared. (I never understood that as the older daughter had the bigger room to herself.) But it worked. Also, my best friend had the same home reversed and she was one of 4 kids- they were lucky that the two oldest were girls, two youngest boys. It can work. Make the most of the basement. We had a 1/2 basement but it was finished and that was our playroom. It also housed our jukebox & the parent's bar and card table so it was a multipurpose room. We had a lot of fun down there and the parent's loved that they could close the door and entertain upstairs and not hear a peep out of us. What I think is most amusing is how all of these families did it with 1.5 baths! We have 2 full and one half bath in our house and I wish each of my girls had their own full because they argue over it . But you do what you have to do. My godparents had an 1100 sq foot house with 4 kids. When the 4th was on her way, they they completely finished the basement and put a small 10x10 bedroom there for the one boy in the family. BTW, they had only 1 full bathroom in the whole house and they were fine.

Good luck on your decisions.

 

[disneybound31]

I would try to re-fi your current house and loan, get a better rate and use the equity thru a HELOC to build an addition.

What if you buy larger but then your current house does not sell quickly? Can you swing two mortgages for years? We live in a nice, safe neighborhood where every neighbor we ever had for the last decade has put their house on the market...a couple sold within 3 months, but 5 others took more than 5 years each and 2 are still on the market after 5 years and multiple price reductions...they go from $135-175k each.

 

[disneybound31]

Don't Move, Improve! That's my motto (okay, I draw room addition plans for a living )

But seriously, it sounds like a great fit for you. You love the location and a small add on on the first floor wouldn't cost that much.

Congrats on the new baby!

I'm curious, since you do this for a living, how much might a first floor add-on run, ballpark...like a 20x16? We have had an awful time just trying to get any local contractors to give us any type of simple ballpark starting point as far as price...even like a sunroom kindof addition with simple laminate wood floor...we live in a small area and are having to call waaaay out of town to try to find a reputable estimate/builder...

 

[tlh0726]

I'm curious, since you do this for a living, how much might a first floor add-on run, ballpark...like a 20x16? We have had an awful time just trying to get any local contractors to give us any type of simple ballpark starting point as far as price...even like a sunroom kindof addition with simple laminate wood floor...we live in a small area and are having to call waaaay out of town to try to find a reputable estimate/builder...

We were going to put an addition (approx. 14x16) onto our house for my mother when we moved her in with us (battling lung cancer) we were quoted almost 40K.
Both DH and I were thinking around 20 to 25K.

 

[jodifla]

We have a 3bdr, 2bath home, approx 1300 sq. ft. We have redone just about everything over the past 7 years, and have about $60k in equity. We recently found out we are expecting baby #3, which is wonderful news, but a total surprise, and totally unplanned. (we had decided to stop at 2!) Two of our bedrooms are a great size, and the third (currently our playroom) is 13x9.

DH and I are trying to decide what to do. I was working part time (by choice) until both kids kids were in school, which would have been 2012 (we were so close!). My bosses are wonderful, and are still ok with me staying part time until this baby goes to school. We can make our mortgage/car pmts fine. Some months might be a little tighter than others, but we're in a good place. I'm trying to figure out, though, how to make our house work for a family of 5.

Remodel:
We had always planned to put an addition on the small bedroom, as it's on the first floor, and then figured we could stay here til we are old! We could refinance (at a lower rate than we pay currently) and do the addition, and stay here. Maybe also finish the basement. But, the eat in kitchen isn't huge, neither is the living room.

Move:
We currently pay PMI of $42 since we didn't put 20% down. With the equity we have, we could easily put 20% down on a new house, so we would get a lower interest rate, and save that PMI cost. We have roughly figured it out that we could add almost $40K to our current mortgage at the new rates and with no PMI and only pay ~$50 more per month! But, we would have to finish a few projects up around here (maybe $1500 and some time). We could get either a 4bdr house, or a larger 3 bdr and still have the kids share, but get some more living space.

Make it Work:
We bought the house next door to my ILs. (It's really not bad )The kids love it, and our kids are their only grandkids. My MIL also watches my kids on the days I work (2x per week). It would be hard to leave, but we'd only plan to move within 10 minutes. I know a family that had 10 kids that lived in a smaller house than ours, so I know it's all about perception. I just don't know if I have that perception!

I come from a larger family, and at holidays, there are 17 (soon to be 18!) of us at my mom's dinner table. My DH has one sister, unmarried, no kids. His parents' house is identical to ours. MIL already doesn't know how we are all going to fit the now 8 of us at dinners. And so I look down the road, and wonder how I'll fit my grown family in this house.

With interest rates this low, this is the time to do something. My bosses (financial planners) and our mortgage broker all agree that once rates start rising, we won't seem them this low again in our lifetime. So, I don't want to plan to move later. Everyone we've talked to pretty much tells us we have some tough choices to make. I feel like my future rides on this. I don't want to cause us financial hardship, but I honestly would like more space. But you never know what surprises lay ahead (like this baby). DH has a good job, my job is waiting for me, but...

So, what would you do?

I'd finish the basement! Our family room with fireplace and huge gameroom are both down there. In my MIL's old house, they had a huge dining room downstairs, complete with a bar and fridge.

 

[marmalade]

We were going to put an addition (approx. 14x16) onto our house for my mother when we moved her in with us (battling lung cancer) we were quoted almost 40K.
Both DH and I were thinking around 20 to 25K.

Wow! That's a lot for an addition, especially since we just bought a 2,000 sq ft. house for 80k.

 

[mombrontrent]

Wow! That's a lot for an addition, especially since we just bought a 2,000 sq ft. house for 80k.

CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our 2000 sq ft home cost us $332,000 and it's not even in a major city!

 

[marmalade]

CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our 2000 sq ft home cost us $332,000 and it's not even in a major city!

Houses are cheap here, however for that $80k house we are paying $3500/yr in property tax. So where the house is cheap the taxes are high.

 

[jodifla]

That's why working with the basement space would be my choice. It's a lot cheaper.

 

[punkin]

Houses are cheap here, however for that $80k house we are paying $3500/yr in property tax. So where the house is cheap the taxes are high.

I now live where the house prices are astronomical and the taxes are on the high side. I used to live where the house prices were astronomical and the taxes were stratospheric.

 

[mombrontrent]

That $332,000 house I bought comes with $4000/year property tax! Yes housing in Canada costs alot more

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We faced these same choices and chose to stay put. It was a good decision for us.

Others mentioned this upthread, but it's worth repeating. It would cost you money to ready your current house for sale, plus realtor's fees. Then moving costs. Then costs to ready your new home. This would eat into your equity. All as a pregnant mom of two!

A few words about living in smaller homes and doing additions.

#1 Declutter
#2 Organize
#3 Use appropriate size furnishings and electronics
#4 Choose colors and window treatments that are light and airy

These alone will make your home feel bigger.

As for additions, we've done two over the years - an in law suite and a sunroom, both times using the same builder.

Costs have risen a lot between additions in the way of materials, regulations and everything else you can think of. The sunroom last year was 2/3 the cost of the 4 room in law suite 16 yrs ago, so be realistic when you hear others saying what they paid or what you should pay. Unless they've done a recent addition in the same area where you live, it's probably different.

Consider consulting an architect and having plans drawn up. It is money well spent. They will help you use your space most efficiently and try to design it to look like it was always there. They will head off problems before they start.

Having plans enables you to get estimates comparing apples to apples.

Get several estimates. They can vary greatly.

For a builder, choose someone locally who cares about the quality of his work and reputation, who's been in business for a long time and you can keep up a long term relationship with so when there are issues, he'll be available. A person like this isn't necessarily more expensive and could be just the opposite. Someone with a smaller crew can take a little longer, but will have less people to pay.

See if the builder you hire will allow for savings by your helping with demo or painting, etc.