You have 2 choices if you are committed to improving your home and lifestyles: First, tear your home down and start all over. Second, remodel or rehab part of the entire home. If you own a home with a good foundation or room to expand, the tear-down option could be an ideal solution. There can be complications, however:
- You have to move out and find temporary housing, at great expense and inconvenience.
- It will take at least 1 year to build a new home, assuming everything goes smoothly.
- The costs can be enormous - certainly $300 to $350 per square foot for new construction
- You lose the charm of the original home.
- There is the stress and hassle of being your own general contractor or hiring a full-service construction company.
- Finally, there are so many decisions to make; it can almost become a full-time job
Here are some of the issues renovating your current home may present:
- How much do you need or want to do and when? Do you bite the bullet and get it done at the same time?
- What are the physical limitations of the remodeling? You own only much land on which to build and the zoning laws might not allow a third story, restrict how much land coverage you can have, or enforce strict feet to area ratio.
- Do you really need all that you want done? It is possible to do too much and make the house too expensive for the neighborhood.
- Do you and your spouse agree on the priorities and the budget?
- Do you have to move our during the construction or can you live reasonably and safely while work is in progress?
- Can you manage more stress in your life?
