Remodeling vs Moving

[NotCranky]

If you buy someone else’s remodel, which can be a great idea, go over it very carefully. Lot’s people do work worse than flippers, even on their own houses. All looks no substance.

Maybe you can ask the seller for proof that they used licensed contractors and pulled permits. If you could get the bid and contracts to see how the work was scoped, even better.

If you do it yourself, you can be sure of quality.
This could matter more on houses that are older and could have more to hide.

[Happs]

I appreciate your insightful replies. A house down the street in my 16 year old tract house community (where every house looks identical) was just sold and the new owner hired a construction company to completely remodel/redo the interior. This past week has been the demolition phase, whereby the construction company truck has hauled pretty much everything away from carpet, interior doors, walls, toilets, counter tops, etc away. The inside of the house has been completely gutted and looks like a war zone right now and I couldn’t imagine anyone living there during the process.

Remodeling a 16 year old house right after purchase and before move-in is the best time to complete this task to minimize inconvenience and hassle, but for those who bought 8-16 years ago and now must decide between remodeling vs moving it’s more stressful. It’s difficult to imagine how you would do complete a remodel of all new flooring, new kitchen with appliances, new bathrooms, new windows, and new paint with a house full of furniture and “stuff” that could get stolen.

[Happs]

I appreciate your insightful replies. A house down the street in my 16 year old tract house community (where every house looks identical) was just sold and the new owner hired a construction company to completely remodel/redo the interior. This past week has been the demolition phase, whereby the construction company truck has hauled pretty much everything away from carpet, interior doors, walls, toilets, counter tops, etc away. The inside of the house has been completely gutted and looks like a war zone right now and I couldn’t imagine anyone living there during the process.

Remodeling a 16 year old house right after purchase and before move-in is the best time to complete this task to minimize inconvenience and hassle, but for those who bought 8-16 years ago and now must decide between remodeling vs moving it’s more stressful. It’s difficult to imagine how you would do complete a remodel of all new flooring, new kitchen with appliances, new bathrooms, new windows, and new paint with a house full of furniture and “stuff” that could get stolen.

[Happs]

I appreciate your insightful replies. A house down the street in my 16 year old tract house community (where every house looks identical) was just sold and the new owner hired a construction company to completely remodel/redo the interior. This past week has been the demolition phase, whereby the construction company truck has hauled pretty much everything away from carpet, interior doors, walls, toilets, counter tops, etc away. The inside of the house has been completely gutted and looks like a war zone right now and I couldn’t imagine anyone living there during the process.

Remodeling a 16 year old house right after purchase and before move-in is the best time to complete this task to minimize inconvenience and hassle, but for those who bought 8-16 years ago and now must decide between remodeling vs moving it’s more stressful. It’s difficult to imagine how you would do complete a remodel of all new flooring, new kitchen with appliances, new bathrooms, new windows, and new paint with a house full of furniture and “stuff” that could get stolen.

[Happs]

I appreciate your insightful replies. A house down the street in my 16 year old tract house community (where every house looks identical) was just sold and the new owner hired a construction company to completely remodel/redo the interior. This past week has been the demolition phase, whereby the construction company truck has hauled pretty much everything away from carpet, interior doors, walls, toilets, counter tops, etc away. The inside of the house has been completely gutted and looks like a war zone right now and I couldn’t imagine anyone living there during the process.

Remodeling a 16 year old house right after purchase and before move-in is the best time to complete this task to minimize inconvenience and hassle, but for those who bought 8-16 years ago and now must decide between remodeling vs moving it’s more stressful. It’s difficult to imagine how you would do complete a remodel of all new flooring, new kitchen with appliances, new bathrooms, new windows, and new paint with a house full of furniture and “stuff” that could get stolen.

[Happs]

I appreciate your insightful replies. A house down the street in my 16 year old tract house community (where every house looks identical) was just sold and the new owner hired a construction company to completely remodel/redo the interior. This past week has been the demolition phase, whereby the construction company truck has hauled pretty much everything away from carpet, interior doors, walls, toilets, counter tops, etc away. The inside of the house has been completely gutted and looks like a war zone right now and I couldn’t imagine anyone living there during the process.

Remodeling a 16 year old house right after purchase and before move-in is the best time to complete this task to minimize inconvenience and hassle, but for those who bought 8-16 years ago and now must decide between remodeling vs moving it’s more stressful. It’s difficult to imagine how you would do complete a remodel of all new flooring, new kitchen with appliances, new bathrooms, new windows, and new paint with a house full of furniture and “stuff” that could get stolen.

[svelte]

If we would have had to pull the sheetrock out, we would have moved out. That would have been our limit.

But as I said, doing the house a section at a time worked. Took longer that way, but I liked that as I could think through how things were progressing and change course on the future phases as necessary.

I can definitely remember having house guests one weekend. We came home from work that Fri about the time they arrived. When we opened the front door, there was our old toilet sitting 5 feet in from the front door. We all laughed.

During the kitch phase, we had our old fridge set up in the living room so we could at least keep refrigerated items in the house. That’s where it sat on Halloween. Kids would knock on the door “Trick or Treat! uh, why is your fridge in your living room?”

Good times!

[svelte]

If we would have had to pull the sheetrock out, we would have moved out. That would have been our limit.

But as I said, doing the house a section at a time worked. Took longer that way, but I liked that as I could think through how things were progressing and change course on the future phases as necessary.

I can definitely remember having house guests one weekend. We came home from work that Fri about the time they arrived. When we opened the front door, there was our old toilet sitting 5 feet in from the front door. We all laughed.

During the kitch phase, we had our old fridge set up in the living room so we could at least keep refrigerated items in the house. That’s where it sat on Halloween. Kids would knock on the door “Trick or Treat! uh, why is your fridge in your living room?”

Good times!

[svelte]

If we would have had to pull the sheetrock out, we would have moved out. That would have been our limit.

But as I said, doing the house a section at a time worked. Took longer that way, but I liked that as I could think through how things were progressing and change course on the future phases as necessary.

I can definitely remember having house guests one weekend. We came home from work that Fri about the time they arrived. When we opened the front door, there was our old toilet sitting 5 feet in from the front door. We all laughed.

During the kitch phase, we had our old fridge set up in the living room so we could at least keep refrigerated items in the house. That’s where it sat on Halloween. Kids would knock on the door “Trick or Treat! uh, why is your fridge in your living room?”

Good times!

[svelte]

If we would have had to pull the sheetrock out, we would have moved out. That would have been our limit.

But as I said, doing the house a section at a time worked. Took longer that way, but I liked that as I could think through how things were progressing and change course on the future phases as necessary.

I can definitely remember having house guests one weekend. We came home from work that Fri about the time they arrived. When we opened the front door, there was our old toilet sitting 5 feet in from the front door. We all laughed.

During the kitch phase, we had our old fridge set up in the living room so we could at least keep refrigerated items in the house. That’s where it sat on Halloween. Kids would knock on the door “Trick or Treat! uh, why is your fridge in your living room?”

Good times!

[svelte]

If we would have had to pull the sheetrock out, we would have moved out. That would have been our limit.

But as I said, doing the house a section at a time worked. Took longer that way, but I liked that as I could think through how things were progressing and change course on the future phases as necessary.

I can definitely remember having house guests one weekend. We came home from work that Fri about the time they arrived. When we opened the front door, there was our old toilet sitting 5 feet in from the front door. We all laughed.

During the kitch phase, we had our old fridge set up in the living room so we could at least keep refrigerated items in the house. That’s where it sat on Halloween. Kids would knock on the door “Trick or Treat! uh, why is your fridge in your living room?”

Good times!

[jpinpb]

All my previous homes were brand-new from the developer. Nice to not really have to do anything except yard. Now we bought a house that needed updating, but it is turning into fixer every day it seems. It is very stressful. For me, though, is undoing stupid things previous owners did or doing things previous owners never did. Years of neglect and deferred maintenance. In your case, you have been there for a long time and you know what you’ve done and what needs to be done. If you are just upgrading kitchen and bathroom and flooring and painting, I think that would be the way to go, especially if you like the area you are living in. But if you are doing major remodel, adding a second story or taking out walls and expanding, then maybe rent for a couple of months. If you don’t like the area you are living in, then might as well just buy a new house somewhere and save yourself headaches and frustration and aggravation. But then again, even buying new doesn’t guarantee that, especially after reading the Montoro thread and all the plumbing problems they have.

[jpinpb]

All my previous homes were brand-new from the developer. Nice to not really have to do anything except yard. Now we bought a house that needed updating, but it is turning into fixer every day it seems. It is very stressful. For me, though, is undoing stupid things previous owners did or doing things previous owners never did. Years of neglect and deferred maintenance. In your case, you have been there for a long time and you know what you’ve done and what needs to be done. If you are just upgrading kitchen and bathroom and flooring and painting, I think that would be the way to go, especially if you like the area you are living in. But if you are doing major remodel, adding a second story or taking out walls and expanding, then maybe rent for a couple of months. If you don’t like the area you are living in, then might as well just buy a new house somewhere and save yourself headaches and frustration and aggravation. But then again, even buying new doesn’t guarantee that, especially after reading the Montoro thread and all the plumbing problems they have.

[jpinpb]

All my previous homes were brand-new from the developer. Nice to not really have to do anything except yard. Now we bought a house that needed updating, but it is turning into fixer every day it seems. It is very stressful. For me, though, is undoing stupid things previous owners did or doing things previous owners never did. Years of neglect and deferred maintenance. In your case, you have been there for a long time and you know what you’ve done and what needs to be done. If you are just upgrading kitchen and bathroom and flooring and painting, I think that would be the way to go, especially if you like the area you are living in. But if you are doing major remodel, adding a second story or taking out walls and expanding, then maybe rent for a couple of months. If you don’t like the area you are living in, then might as well just buy a new house somewhere and save yourself headaches and frustration and aggravation. But then again, even buying new doesn’t guarantee that, especially after reading the Montoro thread and all the plumbing problems they have.

[jpinpb]

All my previous homes were brand-new from the developer. Nice to not really have to do anything except yard. Now we bought a house that needed updating, but it is turning into fixer every day it seems. It is very stressful. For me, though, is undoing stupid things previous owners did or doing things previous owners never did. Years of neglect and deferred maintenance. In your case, you have been there for a long time and you know what you’ve done and what needs to be done. If you are just upgrading kitchen and bathroom and flooring and painting, I think that would be the way to go, especially if you like the area you are living in. But if you are doing major remodel, adding a second story or taking out walls and expanding, then maybe rent for a couple of months. If you don’t like the area you are living in, then might as well just buy a new house somewhere and save yourself headaches and frustration and aggravation. But then again, even buying new doesn’t guarantee that, especially after reading the Montoro thread and all the plumbing problems they have.

[Author]

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