Remodel or Move?
Study the alternatives carefully
Bill Rauser

So, you're in love with your location, but your home just doesn't accommodate your lifestyle anymore. Maybe your family has grown or gotten smaller.

Maybe you have different interests or responsibilities that require more space, such as a home office. Or, maybe today's space-hogging technology and "fun" lifestyle items, (such as a spa tub, large-screen television, or entertainment center) just don't fit in that house that was built around the old "modern" conveniences.

To begin addressing this issue, start with a wish list. What changes need to be made to make your existing home perfect?

For many homeowners, the list includes a master suite, often with a complete bathroom modification to include a whirlpool tub, a steam shower and a compartmentalized toilet. Also on the list is a new kitchen. In some cases, it is simply to update it and make it brighter and lighter. Another popular trend in home remodeling is the great room. Simply, homeowners are combining a formal living room, dining room and kitchen area to make it a tied-together gathering spot, often with the use of pillars instead of separating walls or half-walls.

Devise a strategy

Now take the next step. Contact a reputable architect and request a consultation to make sure your ideas are even feasible based on your current structure, lot, area restrictions, etc. Once your ideas are deemed doable, contact a builder who specializes in remodeling projects of your size and complexity.

For experienced builders, it will be a fairly simple process to give you a ballpark budget for the project you want completed, especially if you have rough drawings. Such preliminary research with an architect and builder will often prevent a homeowner from going the more expensive route of detailed drawings only to discover the project is either not feasible for construction reasons or simply too expensive to justify.

Let the building begin

Now, armed with this information, it is time to decide. Are you staying and remodeling? Or, do you think the cost of the remodel is so far above your budget that you'd prefer to simply move? Assuming you don't want to choose that last option (at first), you need to consider the resale value of your proposed changes. (If you have equity in the house and the changes will be recouped to a great extent when you move, maybe the sticker-shock will be less intense.)

Speak with an experienced Realtor in the area to see the value of your current home "as is" (or with typical, but minor fix-ups, such as the fresh paint, cut grass, etc.) versus the one you will have once the remodeling is done. Remember, the same improvement in one area of the country or state is not necessarily going to reap the same return to you in another area.

Consider how much pleasure those changes will bring to your family for the length of time you spend in your home.

Now that you've weighed the costs and benefits, you'll likely have your answer. And if remodeling is the choice you make, you already have the two other team members in the loop -- your architect and builder. On the other hand if you decide to move, you will have carefully considered and documented what you need in your new home.

Bill Rauser is president of Rauser Professional Contracting in Baltimore.

Mr. Rauser's website is: www.rauser.com

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