Expanding home or buy another?

[Jany1025]

I am wondering if anyone has had to expand or move due to growing family..We need to make choices now that #4 is on her way :)

We bought this house about 10 years ago at a very high cost as the market was VERY high here in the US back then, now it is really a buyer's market in my area, that being said it is NY and within one hour from Manhattan so you really can't do anything with less than $500,000!

We have done A LOT of work to the home, gas fireplace, expansion of driveway, lots of landscaping, new deck, inground pool/waterslide/hot tub and much more. The thing is, it is only a 3 bedroom, and DD bedroom is very small (not sure I can fit two girls in there) one small closet etc.. The boys now share a room. Due to zoning our school district is not in our town our elementary school is about 10 miles away meanwhile the houses across the street have the town we live in school district, we knew this when we bought the house but it was not a big deal as we did not have children.

I would love to buy a new home with more square footage, school district in the town we live in etcc. DH would LOVE to stay here and add on, I just can't see it being that simple, I believe adding on can run well over $100,000 and don't these contractors TAKE FOREVER to finish? Ugh I can't even imagine...

Anyone been in this situation? Did you buy or expand??

Thanks!

[Dana-Alicia]

Huge congrats on your little girl otw!!! We just bought a bigger house to fit our (future) kids in, so I totally understand your issue here! We could add on to this house, but that would only be an extension of the livingroom. Adding onto first and second floor simply isn't allowed, so the adding on plan would've been useless for us.We now bought a house with 4 bedrooms, all of them big enough to put 2 kids in each room! Lol so I told DH we will be busy the next years ;) I prefer a seperate bedroom for each kid though, so once they are in their teens they can have some privacy. But that's a problem for ten years from now. We will probably be moving again by then. But what's important to you now is:

- How much would you get for your current house?
- How much can you spend on a new house?
- How much would it cost to add on?
- How long will that take? (I would go crazy if it took months, with all the rubble and dust and noise oh and kids running around, while you're pregnant and eeek! Not good for the nerves!)
- How far would it be to the kids school? (big factor for me, as I'm the one doing all the school runs. Which is why we bought a house near the school)

Your house does sound very lovely, I'm a bit jealous about the pool etc lol! But in my opinion is that you can add all that to a new house as well. What's important is that you are happy with the house and everything around it. Mom and children are usually the ones who spend most of the time at home (being a SAHM or working parttime) so we thought what I wanted and what was easiest for me, was the biggest factor. Hope this helps. Good luck!

[Ugee]

We are in the same situation. Ours is more about needing space downstairs tho. We are receiving quotes on an extension atm but looking at costs of moving also. If you are going down the route of extending then you need to get a move on with the planning and finding the right builders as everything takes so long. And that's just before they start the work.

With moving its the actual cost of moving fees, added higher mortgage and what costs may be at the new house. then there is finding the house that suits your needs. Also the need of tidying up and making your house ready to sell. Both options I'm finding have their stress factors. Either way I can see this baby arriving before our chosen route is sorted.