refurb or buy new?

[Kristie]

we started looking, going to open houses etc but haven't yet found anything that is *better* than what we have now... so it's looking more like we'll refurb..

we like the location we're in, it's a cul-de-sac, 2 story (altho we wouldn't mind 1 story), enough bedrooms, walking distance to grocery and all that...it just needs some work now that we've been here for 5 years.

but we're gonna look a bit longer too and see if there is anything out there thats comparable..no reason to stop really.

Roz, when you refurbed, how did you figure out how much you could spend before overvaluing your house?

[roz]

Not really because what we did was bring the house up to date. We like the area because it's not a development, has really old trees, a great school district, is a walk to the train (which DH takes to the airport in the winter season), and is right outside of Philly (I'm a nut for going to the theatre, good restaurants and cultural events). I don't need a 5000 square foot house!

Our house was really old and had one bathroom. So we redid the upstairs and added a dormer, creating a third room up there, moving the bedroom and added a master bathroom and a closet that is the whole width of the house. We built out the garage and enlarged the deck. We enclosed the front porch which was not usable (we live on a busy street and it would be dirty) and added it onto a small den to make one large family room with skylights. We put in all new windows which were energy efficient. We put on new siding and new wood floors. All fixtures were top of the line and ceiling fans were the high end Casablancas. Charlie made leaded glass inserts for the front door, sidelights and half moon.

Now a lot of it was covered by insurance as our neighbor's tree fell through our house.

And, since we did this several neighbors have remodeled as well, so we fit right in.

The kitchen had been remodeled earlier.

Now we just have to tear out the dining room walls, redo the downstairs bathroom and office. By then, we'll be on to building the North Carolina house! On that we get to start from scratch and I will have the kitchen of my dreams.

May, 2007 Money magazine has an article on the worst remodeling mistakes. Check it out.

[Kristie]

so did you hire a contractor to contract out all the work or did you hire a company that does it all in house?

it's looking more and more like we will refurb simply because the market is still high, moving is expensive and our house is not even ready for sale... plus we still really like it and are very comfortable in it's skin...

I think it'll be kinda fun redoing most of the rooms too...makes it more of an adventure/learning experience than just going out and finding what you what which in most cases hardly ever happens.

[roz]

We hired a contractor whose work was highly recommended by several. I hired my own bath designer and went to an interior designer to get wallpaper, window treatments and fabrics for bedspreads, curtains, chairs, etc. There are certain brands that are only available to the trade and, of course, that's what I wanted. Suprisingly, it was very affordable. And she hooked me up with a person who did a killer job on the wallpaper!

[flyby0408]

we love our house..location..town..everything..so we would refurb...we would put in a florida room and turn the detached 2.5 car garage into a studio w/ a kitchen, bathroom, etc..and if our cash flow got low..we could always rent it out..

and when the kids are older..i would love to replace our pergo w/ real cherry wood floors, redo the carpets/ furniture. change the pool over to salt water.

i figure we got a lifetime to do all this..and if we dont get to it..no biggie..but dont ever see us moving..i look at homes all the time..one of my huge passions is real estate and i love looking at homes..but mainly for ideas or just to appreciate..