Invest in a Room Addition: Why Expanding Your Home is Better Than Buying New

One of the more common questions that pops up for homeowners, is whether one should expand the current home with a room addition or to place the home up for sale and buy a larger, newer home. Generally, the reason for this question coming up is because your family is either growing in number, you have acquired too much stuff that takes up space, or you feel like you need more space to enjoy the home you have. While adding an extension onto your home may appear to be more expensive up front, moving to a new house can also be a costly experience and stressful at that. In this article, we will go over several reasons as to why it is better to invest in a room addition and expand than it is to buy a newer, larger home.

1. A Room Addition Adds Value and Living Space. Beyond the value that you get out of it as someone who now has more space to move around in within the home, it brings added monetary value as the room addition adds on equity to the house. You may be able to recoup the costs of the room addition when you finally do go to sell the house as it will increase the market value of the home.
2. You Get Designer’s Choice. This is probably one of the best reasons to not move and create a room addition instead. You get the choice to add-on what you’ve always wanted. Want to extend that kitchen or create a living room that flows better with the rest of the house? A room addition can help with that. You could extend your basement and create a mini-bar or entertainment area. Adding onto your home can be fun and bring about bonding time with your family.
3. You Forego Family Upheaval. If you have children, moving to a new home might not be worth the stress and anxiety with either 1) having to find them a new school, 2) making the long commute to get them back and forth from the new home to the school, and 3) force them to quit extracurricular activities because the drive is too long. Of course, this isn’t an issue if you’re moving to the same neighborhood, but it is good food for thought.
4. You Forego Closing Costs From Selling Your Home. Moving has a lot of closing costs that are unavoidable and not recoverable. You’re going to have to pay out realtor fees, get a home inspection done, pay land transfer taxes, do a home staging, and have fees for setting up new utility accounts. Not to mention, you may need to do home touch-ups before moving, which can cost just as much as a home addition or renovation. Might as well stay and expand!
   
5. You Bypass the Headache of Contacting Everyone You Know. You will need to contact your bank, your government, your family doctor, your dentist, and your utility companies. You will need to make new accounts for your current providers and notify all your friends and family members of your new address. Don’t forget about this subscriptions either! With a home addition, you don’t have to do any of this.
6. No Packing or Moving! Yay! For a lot of people, moving and packing up all of your possessions is a hassle and a large one at that. Not only do you have to buy moving boxes, purge unnecessary items, and then unpack everything once you move, you also have to figure out the logistics of emptying out all perishables and buying new groceries. While the costs of moving and packing are minimal compared to a room addition, they are a hassle a lot of people don’t like dealing with. Plus, there’s a cost for moving furniture, appliances, and large household items that may become broken in the move.