To renovate or to buy? That is the question…
To move or to renovate? That is the question…
Looking back on 2020 and perhaps even the year preceding, a trend has emerged showing that homeowners are now more inclined to renovate over upsizing and buying property that they are hopeful is more inline with their aesthetic design needs and preferences.
When we refer to the data from our client base alone, approximately 40% of our clients have lived in their properties for nearly a decade or more. A margin of the remaining stats were first time home buyers who decided to create the space they need through a major alteration and addition over buying and upsizing.
Why? For most cost savvy families and partnerships, it all comes down to what they end up with. (An almost perfect new home that can still require additional work or as close to what they’re after as they can afford). Then there is the cost of the buying and moving process that many of us measure in the time it takes, the stress it involves and the sheer overall cost. The cost of moving home is multifaceted, factoring in the expense of moving from dwelling to dwelling, setting aside stamp duty as well as agent fees, etc.
Speaking to clients on the matter on a weekly basis, we hear that the benefits of having a custom design home or carrying out major alterations and additions far outweigh the angst of finding the “almost perfect” property, settling for less than perfect and making it your own, or having to fork out for the move as well as making the additional changes necessary to create their dream home thereafter.
It is worth mentioning that it also depends on just how big a change is required and the legal / legislative limitations they may encounter when wanting to carry out the renovation. For many, this is rather subjective either way. For smaller scale structural changes, it may well be worth while carrying out a renovation instead of moving home. However, for the larger design and build ambitions, we find that this can go either way, as aforementioned, depending on property market conditions versus staying, knocking down and rebuilding or carrying out major renovations.
Have you been in this situation ? What are/were your thoughts? Comment below and share how you came to the decision to sell or renovate.
