Remodel/Addition--any pointers?

[Therese's Mommy]

We have outgrown our house and it is in need of some updating.  It has been on the market since the beginning of June with no offers and less than a dozen showings.  We now want to see if we can add on and remodel our current home.  Our location is ideal for us and our taxes are super low.  If we were to move we would most likely just move to a bigger home in our neighborhood, but that would put us in a different municipality which by conservative estimates would raise our taxes (property and wage) by $4K per year.  So, we really would like to make it work here.

I have a million things I would like to do, but I am sure we can't afford them all.  Currently our mortgage payment is extremely affordable for us (we can afford just shy of twice as much per month), but we don't have much saved up.  Dh just got a sizable raise so that is why we can afford more, but don't have much in the bank.  We have no equity in our house (bought at the height of the market and refinanced a couple of years ago and have only been here 7 years)  I am not really excited about waiting to make changes as things have been bad for us in this house for about 2 years now, plus we homeschool so I am home all day with the kids and need a house that is more doable for us asap.

So that is our situation.  We would like to get the ball rolling to see what we can do, but are unsure as to the first step.  Anyone been in this situation?  Any pointers?  Any suggestions on how to finance this (we have excellent credit)?

Thanks!

Beth

[philomom]

I always start with an architect. Tell them what you need and see if that can be "blended" into the smaller home you already own. Unless you go up, you will lose yard space. Expect to pay for plans. Then get three bids on the work. At least three. And do talk to the bank or whoever will be financing the build.


Don't expect to get much done while the work is going on. My kids went to school each day but you cannot leave a half torn up house with strangers crawling all around. This becomes a full time babysitting job. Also an art form in social skills. You can't hover too much over the work crew but you need to keep an eye on them. I finessed my way around by offering hot tea and coffee. I also took a lot of pictures and followed the city inspectors around to hear any concerns they may have had.

Good luck.