If you’re a homeowner whose family is expanding, you might find yourself facing the question of whether to renovate your existing property or purchase a new home to accommodate your growing needs.
Now, this isn’t a decision to be taken lightly because it involves careful consideration of your finances, the many practicalities of your lifestyle and your long-term goals. When exploring the pros and cons of both options, you’ll see there are many factors to take into account, and ultimately, you should seek personalised professional advice for a clear understanding of your position and options.
Renovating Your Existing Home: Making The Room to Grow
Renovating your existing home can often make a lot of sense, especially if you’re emotionally attached to the house or you love its unique features. Additionally, renovating can be more cost-effective than purchasing a new home and transferring all your belongings and family members – not to mention saving on real estate agent fees!
There are several benefits to renovating your home rather than moving, which include:
- Cost-effective: Renovating your existing home can be a more cost-effective option than purchasing a new property. By using your home equity, you can take out a home loan to fund the renovations without compromising your financial position.
- Customisation: Renovating allows you to create the ideal space to fit your specific needs, preserving the familiarity and sentimental value of your current home. You’ll have control over the design, layout, and most important features for you and your family.
- Emotional attachment: If you have a strong emotional attachment to your current home or have a close-knit relationship with your neighbours and community, renovating allows you to keep and grow these social connections.
On the other hand, here are some of the downsides associated with renovating:
- Disruption: Undertaking a home renovation project can significantly disrupt your daily life. Construction work can result in noise, dust, and a number of temporary inconveniences. If you work from home or have young children with sensitive routines, this could be problematic.
- Time-consuming: Renovations can take longer than expected, depending on the scale of your project, the availability of trades and even the weather. You need to consider the time to plan, execute, and complete the renovations without losing patience or enthusiasm.
- Limitations: Renovating your home might have constraints due to structural issues or even local council stipulations. Depending on the age and condition of your property, there could be practical restrictions on how much you can alter or expand your existing floor plan.
Purchasing a New Home: Upgrading to Accommodate Growth
Purchasing a new home is often the more straightforward option, but it can be more expensive and requires careful planning, especially when it relies upon selling your current property.
Here are some of the benefits of buying a new property to cater for your growing needs:
- Upsizing: Purchasing a larger home often allows you to gain more living space, additional bedrooms, and potentially a bigger backyard for your growing family. You can upgrade to a property with room for everyone to enjoy their own space and areas for potential future growth.
- Convenience: Buying a new home is convenient since you can move into a ready-made space that suits your needs. You don’t have to endure the inconveniences and mess of a renovation when you find a new home that’s move-in ready.
- Excitement: Sometimes, a new home presents an opportunity for a fresh start and exciting changes for you and your family. Moving to a new neighbourhood or even a different city can be an adventure that brings many positive outcomes.
On the other hand, here are some of the downsides of purchasing a new home:
- Cost: Buying a new home is often more expensive than renovating, especially when you consider the additional expenses of stamp duty, legal fees, moving costs, and potentially higher mortgage repayments.
- Limited options: Depending on your budget, preferred location, and current market conditions, it might be challenging to find a suitable property that meets all your needs within your price range. This could result in settling for a home that isn’t exactly what you had hoped for or compromising on important features.
- Emotional detachment: Moving to a new home means leaving behind the memories and sentimental value of your current home. This could be challenging, especially if you have strong emotional ties to your neighbourhood, locals schools, friends and community.
Crunch the Numbers and Get Expert Advice
Choosing between renovating and upgrading isn’t a decision to make in isolation, so it’s important to consult with financial experts like Grow Financial Solutions to crunch the numbers and evaluate the financial implications of both options.
We’ll be able to work with you to assess your current home equity, evaluate your borrowing capacity, and present a range of loan options tailored to your financial circumstances. Armed with this information, you can make an informed decision that’s best for your growing family’s financial and lifestyle aspects. At Grow Financial Solutions, we understand your ultimate goal is to create a comfortable and functional home that meets the needs of your family, and we’re ready to help make it happen for you! Call today for a chat to get the process rolling!