Housing Decisions

[MommyinTX]

We have a family of 8, living in a 1900 sq.ft. 3 bedroom house. We homeschool, so everyone is home most of the time. We have 2 living areas, so the den is also doubling as a bedroom for 2 children. Our house is 15 years old and desperately needs updating. Should we work on the house and stay put, or move?? I feel like we need to stay in the same general price range, but with a 4 bedroom floor plan. Is it worth the hassle and cost of moving to end up with the same size house, but in better condition, better design for our family? The downside is that our mortgage debt would increase after closing costs and repairing our current home for sale. We have no other debt right now.

Experience/opinions??

Thanks,
Becky

[mommy4ever]

Truthfully, you're likely better off where you are. The cost of a some plaster sandpaper and a coat of paint is far less than a move. Even replacing carpet is less.

You don't mention if you have a basement. That would be the first place I'd look to find more room. We purchased a 3 bedroom, 1900 sqft 7 years ago. We're a family of 6 now. We did some renovations. We cut a hole for a window($400), window $150. found some 2x4's some plaster and some paint. Used one existing window and we now have an extra 1 bedrooms. We used dollar store peel and stick tiles, they have held just fine(3 for $1). The trick was getting a primer($10) and put that on the concrete first. This enabled teh glue to stick strong. In the remainder of the space we have the washer/dryer and 2 freezers, a pantry, and a shower. We also did a small entertainment area for the kids. It doubles as a sleep over space. That space cost use well under $1000 to do. It is COMPLETELY finished now, even the sealing, before it was just a concrete space.

We converted the formal dining room into a den/crafting/computer area. Put up a temp wall. Although if we had to, it could easily be converted into a 6th bedroom. We could also put another bedroom off the family room. But there is no need. It also doubles as sleep over space, if we home schooled, it owuld make a nice schooling area.

Before leaping to another home, in scary economic times, really look at your existing space. See what can be adapted to suit you now. Can the layout be changed some? Really, if it's paint and carpet that is causing you to really want to move, it's cheaoer to replace the carpet and paint by far. Inconvenient, but is a bigger mortgage worth the move? The charges for transferring utilities, forwarding mail, etc.

[Dancing Lotus]

I would stay put and do some remodeling.

[leezza]

I don't know if your family has cable or not.....but if you do the HGTV channell has all kinds of low cost idea's for updating spaces.

Good Luck,
leezza

[FrugalMomof3]

I also would stay put and do the remodeling myself, it would cost you far less to just do the repairs, and with the cost of housing going down, while you could sell you most likely wouldnt get want your asking for it.

[stinkbug]

Lots of questions....
How old are your children? Will some be leaving home soon, or are they all small and will be at home for years yet?
How much *updating* does the house need? 15 years is not very old for a house...I'm assuming you are talking about carpet, decor, etc. That's an easy fix that can be done a little at a time.
If you actually need more living space....I would not suggest just adding on willy nilly with whatever materials are available. That will only lead to problems with resale, especially in a tight market.
I would seriously access what you need and what you're able to spend to make it acceptable to your lifestyle.

[happimommi]

As someone who has moved a family quite a few times, stay put and remodel. Much easier than packing up a big family and moving.

[AmyBoz]

Nasty market, these days. My guess is that your money is safer invested in your home.

[forHISglory]

To the point: Stay put.

[cheles2kids]

I feel your pain. We were living in a 1400 sq. ft. home, but there is only 4 of us and we also homeschool.

My husband retired from the Navy and his job offer moved us back to Tennessee. I can honestly say that right now is the best time to remodel and just stay where you are.
There are plenty of homes out there for decent prices BUT the overall mortgage lenders have become so strict it's almost impossible to get financed unless you have almost perfect credit.
I'm not saying that you don't, I'm just throwing that out there for anyone who might also be thinking of buying.

So, I'm with the general consensus here, stay put, do your add-on or remodel and when the market takes an upturn (it always does) *then* you can consider selling for something bigger if you still feel like you need it and more likely than not, you will get back whatever equity you put into it.

Good Luck!

[MommyinTX]

Thanks for all your replies! I'm trying to mull over the possibilities of this house. We have 4 boys and 2 girls, so the boys our the main space squeeze. We currently have the 2 little boys in a bedroom and the 2 older boys sleeping on their mattresses in the den. We could keep the current arrangement and buy a bunk bed for the den, or buy 2 bunks and squeeze everyone in the bedroom (10x10), or my husband and I could take the little room and put all 4 boys in the master bedroom (huge). My oldest boy is 11, so we have at least 7 more years of all 4 at home.

Becky in TX

[mommy4ever]

Setting teh boys up in the MAster Bedroom is a great idea! I had thought of that in a house we looked at previously, it is a viable option. What do adults do in a bedroom, that doesn't require the bed..lol. Not much, we usually are ones to do work in the bedroom, the den can be completely set up as the school room. That way the older boys aren't being shuffled. It's not forever either. once we all know what the economy is doing then we all can all make educated decisions about our homes, jobs etc. But the wise choice right now is stay put!

[many houseapes]

You might want to stay put,it would be cheaper. We also would love to move out to the country, but we can't right now. We live in a 1392 sq.ft. home 4 bdms & we also homeschool(there are 12 of us) - Do you have a garage that you can make into an extra bedroom? If we decide to stay here for another 5 years we were thinking of that option. I agree w/ the others, it would cost less for you to spruce the place up & stay.

[cheles2kids]

As for the 4 boys, could you do trundle beds as opposed to bunk beds?
They wouldn't take up near the amount of room and maybe the little guys could sleep on the trundles?
As for putting them into the master, that could be an option too.

I like the using the garage idea for extra living space, but depending on where you live, your homeowners association might frown on making it into an additional living space? I know where we were in Jacksonville we couldn't actually take down the garage door, put up studes, dry wall it and brick it up to make it look like part of the house.
Just throwing that out there in case you do have to deal with a HOA.

[mombottoo]

What about adding on to your present home? Many times it is much cheaper and you can end up being able to re-arrange the current living area.