Residential Renovation: How to decide if you should renovate or move

At Morgante-Wilson Architects, a large number of our clients face a common dilemma: should they renovate their home, or should they move? Families grow, needs change, and space becomes short. Lack of storage becomes a pressing issue; parents want more privacy; an in-law moves in. The reasons for desiring change are many and varied, but the essential question remains the same: to live the way you want to, is it better to renovate the house you have, or to move?

As residential architects, our advice is to consider the question from two separate and distinct perspectives. The first is emotional. The second is practical.

Let’s examine emotional issues first. Do you love where you live? If the answer is yes – if you are entrenched in your neighborhood, enjoy its location, consider yourself good friends with your immediate neighbors, and have sentimental feelings toward your house, you may be happiest in the long run if you stay put. At Morgante-Wilson Architects, we’ve demonstrated time and time again that almost any house can be altered to meet changing needs. In fact, it’s our job to see possibilities you may not realize exist.

Of course, no matter how ingenious we like to think we are, there’s no way even our talented staff of residential architects can put a 10,000 square foot house on a 5,000 square foot lot. But there is certainly much we can do in terms of packing maximum allowable square footage with maximum function and utility. In fact, it’s what we do best. So if you want a mudroom, a new master bathroom, or a garage, leave it to us to figure out how to make that work, while you enjoy the peace of mind that comes from knowing you won’t be uprooting your family from their beloved neighborhood.

The other side of the equation is practical, and primarily involves economics. It’s key to balance what you originally paid for your house against any profit you would realize if you were to sell it….and then decide whether you want to “spend” that unrealized profit on a home renovation.

To help you make that decision, we recommend working with a residential architecture firm to develop a master plan, which will aid you in determining whether or not it’s worth the time and effort to undertake a renovation. In other words, the master planning process enables you to understand the costs involved, and what you can achieve given parameters of space and budget, so that you can make an educated decision about whether to renovate, or move.

At Morgante-Wilson Architects, we find thirty percent of clients will decide to move, while the vast majority – a whopping seventy percent – will elect to renovate instead. Will you be one of them? We certainly invite you to call us and find out!