Doing renovations if it's not your forever home

We've lived in our house about 2 years. It's a great house but DH and I know we'd want a much larger home (and lately are considering eventually moving OOS.)

Anyway, given that it's not our forever home, I keep having 2nd thoughts about projects we plan on doing this year, like converting our sunroom and painting, furnishing, adding crown moulding, etc.

How have you balanced projects/renovations if you knew you'd eventually move? I mean, we plan on staying maybe 5 more years (less if we move OOS) but you never know what life will bring, it could be more or less.

Just looking for people's thoughts on this.

Re: Doing renovations if it's not your forever home

We always knew this wasn't our forever home. We figured 5-7 years (its been 6.5yrs). We're actively looking at listings now.

We pretty much renovated our entire home - taking down walls, new kitchen, putting in cherry floors, new windows, and more. We didn't hold back knowing we wouldn't be here forever. We just did our driveway, siding, gutters and pavers in the last year.

I think you need to somewhat live in the moment, and make the house what you what it to be for you for now (keeping in mind that someone else needs to like what you've done also). Improvements/updates will likely help with the resale too.

Message edited 4/6/2011 12:37:56 PM.

Re: Doing renovations if it's not your forever home

All renovations in my house are done for us as well as improve it's value. Bathroom remodel, new windows, siding, roof, PVC fence, updating room by room. While enjoying the updated look we don't go crazy either. But everything we did was with resale value in mind also. So IF we want to sell the house, the house would present itself better than the competition.

But we did not do $20k bathroom renovations either. We went with a middle ground "budget".

Re: Doing renovations if it's not your forever home

I think SOME renovations are fine, but I wouldn't do a gut remodel. So for example, getting a new granite (or whatever) countertop is OK, but knocking down walls in the kitchen so it's your dream layout doesn't make sense.

Also, if you're thinking about doing renovations, do them sooner rather than later. You want to be able to enjoy the changes for a while before you move!

Re: Doing renovations if it's not your forever home

Re: Doing renovations if it's not your forever home

We're sort of in the same position, so we're holding off on doing any major improvements, but continuing with smaller things.

Example: I would LOVE to redo my kitchen. The cabinets are older, a granite countertop would be great, our appliances work fine but they're kinda ugly, and we don't even have a backsplash. But the investment is way too much considering the fact that we don't want to live here forever and might not be here to enjoy it, so we're not doing it.

But we ARE painting. The house needs it, and it's a much smaller investment of both time and money. And it should help when the time eventually comes to sell, because the inside will look nicer.

Re: Doing renovations if it's not your forever home

We're in the process of buying a coop and its our 5 year plan home. We are going to be doing some work but not go crazy. Bathrooms need to be redone (not total gut), painting, closets, and possibly the kitchen countertop/backsplash. We also might install lighting which is lacking throughout. Although it's only 5 years I think we will get some money back when it is time to sell and to enjoy it for 5 (maybe more) years is worth it to us. We don't plan to spend more then $15k.

Re: Doing renovations if it's not your forever home

Re: Doing renovations if it's not your forever home

Renovations are still beneficial even if it's not your forever home. First of all, for re-sale value it's a great idea to do things like bathrooms, kitchens, floors, etc. I wouldnt necessarily do a gut job on a house or change entire floorplans, but to spruce up room-by-room definately cant hurt. Plus, you still want to enjoy the house while you're living in it.

Re: Doing renovations if it's not your forever home

I would do them keeping in mind that they should be broader renovations - one that will increase the value and are not taste specific. And def. nothing too expensive and time consuming. Some projects just don't add value the way you hope so I would take that into consideration with everything you do.

So, I would vote to say upgrade the bathroom - but top dollar tilework and a $2K vanity are not necessary if you're not staying.

Message edited 4/6/2011 5:09:56 PM.

Re: Doing renovations if it's not your forever home

We are pretty sure that we aren't in our forever home. Therefore, we're going to stick with basic renovations that will bring up the value of the home (new heating system, painting, redoing the basement floor, etc.)

Our house isn't big enough for the amount of children we want to have. In about five years or so, we will probably evaluate if we want to make our current house bigger, because we can expand up and to the side, or buy a new house.

Re: Doing renovations if it's not your forever home

We did major renovations in our first house. It was pretty much gutted. Since we did most of the work ourselves, or hired a friend to do work, labor didn't cost a lot of money and when we sold we got most of the money we put in back from the sale. And we enjoyed our 6 years there. Nowadays you never know what could happen... many people end up staying for a looong time in what was supposed to be a starter home. So I wouldn't NOT do work just because you might move someday. Just make smart choices and think about resale while you are doing the renovations.

Re: Doing renovations if it's not your forever home

I would look at the going rate for homes in your area and see if you would be able to recoup the investment. You also want your house to be what you want while you are living there and a few years is still a good amount of time to hold off on not doing projects you want to do. I would take a look at the market and see which improvements will make the most sense.

Re: Doing renovations if it's not your forever home

We are not in our forever home, and we still did some renovations, but we did them all with moving in mind.
i.e. we only did things that would increase the value of the house (kitchen, bath upgrading plumbing, pvc fence)
we kept all choices more neutral to appeal to more people
we did not pick out the most expensive tile, grout, toilet etc
we also called in a RE to ask about what improvements would out price us in the market
for example, we live in a middle class neighborhood, most home DO have granite but do not have the custom cabinetry i lusted for...so we left the old cabinets.

I would recommend calling in a agent, tell them you are intrested in listing soon and would like to know what their suggestions would be.