Cape Dormer

Hi All,
DH and I purchased our house in 2012 at the lowest price possible, we love our neighborhood, and the location is just great for us. We have a cape that has a rear dormer (2 bedrooms 1 full bath upstairs - shower, not bath), and an extension off the kitchen as the dining room. We feel that it's getting small. We are so torn about the idea of buying new or dormering, and I think we want to start making these decisions now for 2-3 years in the future. We bought the house with the initial intention that it was going to be a starter home... but after redoing the kitchen, we LOVE our kitchen and we love the area. We are guessing based on comparable houses in the area we would be able to sell today for about $125K+ over what we paid for it... But at the same time, looking at what is out there, we know we'd want to buy a new build, something that we would be able to tailor to what we want, ESPECIALLY with regards to the kitchen, and that might end up being just slightly out of our price range. We know if we dormer we would absolutely not price ourselves out of the neighborhood, as many homes in the area are either dormered, or have been knocked down for a new build colonial.

I guess what I'm asking is, if you dormered, can you please share pictures of interior? I am hoping to see if we can do what we would want to accomplish with our house or if we really will want to buy new.

Thanks!

Cape Dormer

We bought our house with the intention of renovating down the line - we got a great deal and love our neighborhood.

I don't have any pictures handy but, we had a front dormer and 2 br/1ba upstairs in our cape. The ceilings were low.

We removed the roof and re-dormered the top to square off the house - we now have 3 br and 2ba upstairs, along with laundry and an "office" area, as well as 3 large closets, and two smaller closets.

We also knocked down the walls downstairs and have a large living room on one side and country kitchen on the other (we haven't redone our kitchen fully yet so it's a kitchen/dining area...)

Message edited 6/11/2015 11:52:50 AM.

Re: Cape Dormer

I know you said that you have a good sense of your area and what homes are selling for, but if you ever want a complimentary consultation, I'd be happy to do some research and meet with you to discuss (i) what your home could sell for "as is" in today's market, and (ii) what I project the value would be post-renovation.

It never hurts to get all of the facts before you decide!

Re: Cape Dormer

My sister had a small cape before they decided to renovate and extend/dormer. They did look at houses elsewhere but ultimately decided in the end to just stay where they are since it would probably cost them more to buy a new house and renovate it the way they wanted, plus they liked their location. I don't have pics but basically the first floor you walk in and there is the dining room and kitchen area (all open). They also extended half of the back of the house, so next to the kitchen there is an office (could be a BR) and family room, 1/2 bath and closets. Upstairs (with the stairs right in front of you when you walk in the front door) they have 3 BR's plus a master BR with a master bath and WIC, a main bath, plus closets. It came out really nice but my BIL is also in construction so he did save a lot of money by doing some of the work himself.

Oh and they hired an architect to draw out the plans of the house to see what it would look like...

I think its great that your house is worth a lot more than you paid! So in your situation even if you do decide to sell, at least you'll be making some money.

Re: Cape Dormer