WWYD? Sell? Remodel?

[NCHIN]

We are in a dilemma. Big time. We purchased a house in a very desirable area in 2001. I wanted a small house with a good floor plan. There were not many homes available at the time. We ended up with a house much bigger than I wanted. Double the size with a floorplan that I did not love. It is multi-leveled and unconventional. My dh told me to settle for it and we would buy another when the "perfect" house showed up. We have been looking all this time and nothing is "perfect". Not only that, the prices have more than doubled. Granted our house has done the same. I love everything else about it though. Great neighbors and it is only 4 blocks from " the village", very trendy boutique shops and markets, 2 blocks from the school and daycare, and the bus stop is just a few doors down. Really convenient. Good size yard. We have been looking in the same area but I wanted a nicer floorplan.

Here comes the question. WWYD? Stay and remodel? It will always be a multi leveled no matter what we do. Buy another house with another not so perfect floorplan? Demolish the house and build what we want on it? DH is not too thrilled about this idea. He thinks the house is too new to do this to. The house is very well built and is 9 years old. The last owners built it as their custom home and their uncle was a contractor. The very best materials were used. They planned on staying forever but they could not continue living together as an extended family and moved to another area and bought 3 homes w/ the proceeds of the sale. I would like to add that any tear down around here is over 1 million. Or sell this house and buy a tear down and get a architect and build our dream home? I have a feeling that building a home will take years. Anyone with some experience w/ this? I have heard horror stories about how long remodels and new construction is taking. Any advice will be appreciated. TIA

[thriftyqueen]

My honest opinion is that it is absurd to tear down a perfectly good house because you are not happy with it. A 9 year old house it considered "new" to a lot of people. We live in a house that is 88 years old. That is an old house.

If you hate the house as much as it sounds, sell it. Any amount of remodel will probably not make you happy and you will lose some of the equity in the house but doing so. If you have a lot of equity in the house, sell it and use the amount you make on it to buy another house.

With remodeling, you are going to have to be happy with the house that you have to some extent because you even if you change a lot of it, it is still going to have some things that you just can't change. Remodeling means that you are going to have to be okay with staying in that home for a while.

By your post, it appears that money is not really an issue in all of this. Maybe if you really want to build a house, you could sell your current house to be move so someone else can have a house instead of filling up a landfill with perfectly good materials (especially if it was a high quality custom built house as you stated). I would really check into building and hiring an architect if you want to go that route, it is very expensive. My husband is an architect and with those fees, paying for a builder and the rising cost of building materials, you will probably be shocked at the cost. Just to tear down the current house would be $$$$.

I hope you are able to figure out the best option. It is a good learning lesson to not buy a house just to have a house, but to wait until the right one comes along. I truly think selling is your best option.

[Blue Dragonfly]

I would sell and buy something you love. If the price has doubled, you will have a huge downpayment (plus be able to pay off any other debt you have). Your mortgage might end up being a bit higher than what you have left on your house now, but not that much more. And personally I would rather be in a place I love.

I wouldn't tear it down.

[VWChick]

WOW. I am trying really hard not to be judgemental here. But, it just seems a little crazy to me to tear down a basically new house that's well-built simply because you don't think it's perfect. I guess that even if I had the luxary of doing something so silly that I wouldn't do it because it seems like such wretched excess. It makes me sad that we Americans sometimes think we're entitle to have everything perfect. If I loved the area as much as you claim to, I would do some SLIGHT remodeling and stay. Otherwise, I would sell to someone who could appreciate the house.

[Starr]

I would sell it and look for a run down house in a nice location. It sounds like you really love the location and a better location is better than a nicer house. While your house is on the market start the beginning stages of playing out your dream house, realize that depending on the lot you buy that you will have to change. I'd start with an architect right away. Building a house should not take years as long as you have all your ducks in a row. Its going to be hectic but I think in the end you will love it.

[missi66]

I wouldn't tear down the house.That is a huge waste of money! Sell it and use the profit to build something custom for you. If it was me I would buy a house with good bones and remodel to my liking.They can do a lot for an ugly house.

[momto l&a]

If you remodel will you be able to put the same quality materials into the house as it was built with?

If not I would say sell and move. If yes than get an architect and see what they could come up with in getting your current home into something you would love.

[Kirsten]

I wouldn't tear it down; you are losing too much money that way. On your tax assessment that comes each year, how much of the value is the land and how much of the value is the house? Ours is 10% land, 90% house. I think you are in California though so your land could be more - but I wouldn't think such a majority that it would make it feasable to just tear down the house.

I agree with others that no matter what remodeling you do, a split level is a split level. Is this really what you don't like? The house is only 9 years old so a remodeled kitchen or bath wouldn't be the huge change that it might be if your house was built in the 60s or 70s. You'd put a lot of money and time and trouble to change something that isn't really the problem. You can't remodel a split level into something different without so much money that you might just as well be tearing it down.

So I think your choices are either to live with it or move. Tearing down or remodeling aren't viable options IMO.

I think building is a long and stressful process. Many people say that if you can get through building a house without getting divorced, then you will be married forever. Building seems fun - but you'd have to have a lot of money and have a really great relationship to even attempt IMO.

I'd either buy something else that is already what you want, or stay where you are.

[mightymoo]

I agree with the PP.

Demolishing the house is like throwing money away - especially one that new. Not to mention terribly environmentally unfriendly and wasteful. Look at your tax assessment - they generally break down the value of the land and the house. Consider that if you tear down the house, you are basically throwing hte value of the house in the garbage, and that could be $200-300K or more!

If your problems with the house are really the basic layout then I don't think remodelling makes sense. If it were a 60 year old house with a bad layout that needed a lot of remodelling anyway, that would be fine, but again, while in this case you aren't throwing away the entire value of teh house, remodelling a practically new house will not add much value to it, so the cost of the remodel is lost in terms of value.

I think I would just take my time and look for the perfect house. It will come around at some point - since you are not in a moving situation now and you like your neighborhood, you ahve time to wait for what you want to come on the market. Find a realtor, tell them what you want and then have them call you when they find something you'd like, take a look at it, if its not ideal, keep looking.

[velochic]

I don't want to sound snarky, but I can't even imagine the resources that would be wasted if you tore down and rebuilt. Not monetary resources... natural resources. Please, please take that into consideration when you make your decision. It would be such a waste of natural resources. Consider mother earth in your decision.

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by Kirsten

I think building is a long and stressful process. Many people say that if you can get through building a house without getting divorced, then you will be married forever. Building seems fun - but you'd have to have a lot of money and have a really great relationship to even attempt IMO.

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by NCHIN

I would like to add that any tear down around here is over 1 million.

So not frugal :

[oldgirl,newtricks]

I would remodel. A great neighborhood is hard to replace.

Spend some time with Sarah Susanka's Not So Big series. She has several books. They are not about little houses, but about how to live better in your space. We did a whole house remodel and her books gave me a vocabulary of what I needed for our house to work for us.

[jkpmomtoboys]

I'm really surprised (or maybe not) at some of the hostile responses the OP got. She's trying to make the best decision she can and asked for advice....not comments on how she's not frugal, or being silly...

Anyway, we just bought a house for 1 mil and are extensively remodelling it for almost 400K so I feel your pain.

In our case, we love the neighborhood, we love the lot just didn't love the house.

However, (and this is a big however), generally we liked the layout of the house. We just wanted to add to it and remodel and update it.

If you don't like your house at all, I would agree with what some others have said and wait for a house that you generally like or find one that truly is a tear-down. We know people who have done that but it is really a process that can take years and years. With our remodel, we started 18 months ago with an architect. By the time we're done, it will be almost 2 years. That's not for a whole house. I know people who have built whole custom homes where it took literally years.

Good luck in your decision!

[NCHIN]

I too will admit that I was a bit surprised by the responses. Maybe I did not make a few things clear. I usually have a habit of this. I was also trying to down play some of it. Maybe this was not the correct forum to place this post. I do not know.

We bought this house for just under a million in 2001. We were not planning on having children. It is not a kid friendly house. The kitchen is on one level and the family room is on another. We had looked for a home for over a year by this time and we were either not fast enough or there was a real shortage of homes on the market. We thought we would buy it and continue to look for "the perfect" house. We still have not found it yet so I think we need to to see if an architect can help us remodel or we have to have it custom built. I know for a fact that remodels and customs take years and lots of heartache. I am not not sure I am up to it. I have looked at tear downs around here and the lot is not as big as this one and they are $1.5 million.

I was just torn about how to proceed and wanted advice. I can see how some people could see this as being wasteful and over the top. Actually, being frugal is how we got the money to purchase this home. We just happen to live in a very expensive part of the country.

We really love the neighborhood. We do not want to live anywhere else. So buying a lot elsewhere is not an option.

[NCHIN]

Originally Posted by Blue Dragonfly

I would sell and buy something you love. If the price has doubled, you will have a huge downpayment (plus be able to pay off any other debt you have). Your mortgage might end up being a bit higher than what you have left on your house now, but not that much more. And personally I would rather be in a place I love.

I wouldn't tear it down.

I have no problem selling it. I just cannot find even a halfway perfect house to buy. We have been looking since this house was purchased in 2001. It has nothing to do with finances. We were able to pay off the house when we purchased it, so no mortgage. I do not know how to stress how much I want to stay in this neighborhood. The tear down that we looked at is 1 block away, much smaller lot though. That is why I thought of this house as being the tear down. The more I think about it the more I think remodelling is out of the question. I know it can only occupy a certain percentage of the lot and this house sits pretty tight on the lot.

[NCHIN]

Originally Posted by i'mmykid'$mom

So not frugal :

I can understand your feelings but I did not set the prices. I would love to pay less but it is not going to happen anytime soon.

[AprilDaisy]

I've followed this thread with interest because it really is an interesting situation....and I like the word "interesting".

I understand what you mean about not being "kid friendly". That does make a difference. We're going to build a two-story house in the coming months. I wouldn't have done this when my children were smaller. Who lives in your house reflects how it needs to be created and even used.

I wouldn't tear down the one you're in. It is an important house and someone in this world is waiting to appreciate that house for how it is and the love that was put into it.

Here's what I'd like to suggest. Quit looking. Say a statement such as, "we will find the perfect house for us, in this neighborhood, on a wonderful lot, at a wonderful price, within 6 months of this date (January26, 2007)". Then, quit looking.

Here's where I'm coming from. If you constantly tell people, "we haven't found the perfect house, we've been looking forever, we'll never find the house we're looking for, we should just settle, etc." Then that's the words of creation you're putting out there and that's what you'll continue to get.

If you think I'm nutty, that's okay. If you don't want to do this, that's okay too. I'm simply offering a different view.

Blessings!

[mommyof3andcountin]

Being from the Bay Area, I can understand having a $1M tear down house. Yes, you could move the midwest and buy half a state, but like my DH says.....You'd have to live there, LOL!!! Not all of us are cut out for midwestern living (We are trying to get back to Cali, LOL.) But I don't agree with tearing down a perfectly good house, like your seems to be. Yes, it's not the perfect house for you, but it's a perfectly good house that shouldn't be wasted, IMO.

I realize you love your neighborhood, and you want to live there. I think a smaller lot with a house that is really a tear down would be the better option than disposing of the one you have. If you wanted a smaller house, wouldn't a smaller lot be better anyway? Then you aren't wasting the resources that a larger lot and larger house can provide for someone with more kids/more entertainment duties or whatever.

If I was you, I'd sell and buy the smaller lot with the tear down house. Assuming it's really a tear down, not liveable at all. If it's a decently built house, I'd remodel it to what I like, trying not to waste if at all possible. Then you minimize your enviromental and monetary impacts.

[SleeplessMommy]

First, I would talk with a local real estate agent and let her/him know you are looking for a trade. Same neighborhood, different floor plan. (And since yours is bigger than what you want, you get cash out of this trade!) There are lots of house flippers out there who would be happy to do a trade-up. Keep taking to agents until you find one that will work with you!

Next, talk with a good architect or decorator. Explain the problems with exiting house, and ask for "low cost" ideas to fix it. If you have young kids, major remodeling will be very stressful. It is also very likely to go over budget. I would suggest you do minor stuff only... there may be a few ways to make the house more livable, that just have not occurred to you. This could be lighting changes, flooring changes, removal of doors, or who knows what.