No one can answer your ultimate question – What’s the market going to do?
You have to base your decision on what you believe it will do.
Your choices, among others, might be:
1) Sell your house (after 9 years you ought to have some equity) and rent a 4 or 5 bedroom place until you can buy a larger home. Invest your gains in CDs until you find a place. Don’t waste it on cars or other things…..
2) Do nothing and deal with limited space. Your kids will eventually grow up and move out leaving you with more space. Foot the bill for a nice hotel for visiting parents, let other visitors pay for the hotel themselves. Or, let them sleep in the living room on roll-away beds, or whatever if they are willing to. I like this choice, but I’m cheap and don’t care if people know it. 😉
3) Remodel and enjoy the extra features. Realize that it won’t boost the resell value much if at all. It will be a warm fuzzy feeling that benefits you and your family, but won’t be something you can capitalize on otherwise.
4) You could also move out of your place, rent it to someone else, and rent a larger place. This preserves the ownership in your existing home, but gives you the benefit of a larger living space. And you could conceivably do it for no additional cost if you get a good deal on a 4 bedroom rental for yourselves….
Good luck and congratulations on having been in a house for 9 years, and not being subject to concerns of recently purchased property, or having to wait out the RE bubble to buy in the future.
You are in an eviable position, so don’t make a hasty decision, and don’t overlook options like 2 or 4 above. Avoid squandering your solid standing as other greedy or erratic folks have done. Good luck PSTeach!
