Feeling some growing pains in your home? Whether it’s from a growing family, wanting extra space for hobbies and recreation, or just feeling a little cramped, it’s natural to want some extra breathing room.

If you already own a home, making your goal of getting more living space comes down to two options: either move to a new home, or add onto your current one. But that’s a huge decision to make, one that could impact your family and finances. Here’s some points to consider to help you decide whether you stay or move.

How Much Do You Love Your Current Home?

Emotions play a huge role in deciding to remodel versus moving. Take a moment and think about your home. How do you feel about it? Is this the home your kids grew up in and you could never part with it or has it just been a source of endless frustration and headaches?

If the thought of moving out of your home hurts emotionally, you should really consider renovating. Rather than having to move away from something so special to you, add onto it or change it to better match your current needs.

On the flip side, if you dislike your home, or are at the least indifferent, moving away to something better could be just the thing you need. You could even identify what you disliked about your current home and pick your next place based on those factors.

Location, Location, Location

Every place is different, and your neighborhood/home location could play a huge role in whether you stay or leave. If you have kids in school, would moving put them in a new school? Do you want to be closer to where you work or looking for a nicer neighborhood? It could even be that where you live has little to offer in entertainment or restaurants, and you want to be closer to where the fun is.

If you love your neighborhood and neighbors, that’s a really good reason to stay and remodel. But if you feel no connection to your town or area, maybe a fresh start somewhere else is just the thing you need.

Are You Even Allowed to Remodel Your Home?

Depending on your situation, you might not even be able to remodel or add on to your home. A variety of factors could block you like: your HOA, city/county/state building codes, how much land you have around your home, how your home was designed and built, and costing too much.

Before you get your heart set on your chosen renovations, try to identify what barriers you’ll encounter. The larger the change, the more problems you might run into. If you’re swapping out your kitchen counters from wood to granite, you won’t need to check building codes or get an inspection, but if you want to add an extra room or build a Mother-in-Law suite, you will need to jump through some hoops.

The Woes of Construction

Depending on what type of remodel, and how large it is, you might have to live with construction for awhile. You might even have to find temporary housing if the project makes your home unlivable. This could mean a few days, a couple of weeks, or even several months,  depending on the work being done.

You should also be prepared for a whole host of issues with doing construction work on your home. You’ll need to coordinate with contractors, deal with unexpected problems, and have workers in your home, potentially making a huge mess. If you don’t want to deal with all these extra woes, renovating your home might be too much for you.

What Does Your Wallet Say?

Of course, your finances will play a huge role in what you do. Typically, cost per-square-foot is lower in renovating than purchasing a new home of the same size. With selling and buying a home, there are likely to be closing costs and other expenses you can avoid with remodeling.

That isn’t to say though that remodeling is cheap. If you don’t have the savings to pay for it, you’ll need to find an alternative method of payment. This could include opening a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC), taking out a second mortgage, or a small personal loan. Depending on how you decide to fund your renovation, you might have to deal with higher interest rates and a quick payment turn around.

Depending on your financial situation, like your credit score and income, getting an extra loan might not be feasible. In this case, you could either save up to pay for renovations and work towards getting a loan, or look at selling your current house and buying a new one. Depending on where and when you buy your house, you could even get a larger house without dramatically increasing your mortgage payments.

Regardless of what you choose, Pioneer is ready to help. Whether your looking to open a HELOC to pay for renovations or wanting to get a new mortgage for buying a larger home, we can help you reach your goal.

Get Pre-Approved Today!