Is it Advisable to Renovate Your Current Home or Buy a New One?

Deciding to renovate your existing home or buy a new house requires research skills, and creativity. Not to forget the finance. While there's no direct answer, there are plenty of considerations to review and question. Your financial condition, market demands, and existing quality of life are all factors to survey before deciding if it's wiser to find a new dream home or add to your current abode. Many homes for sale in the Cayman Islands may need refurbishment to make it yours

Here are 6 points that might help you to decide between buying a new home amongst Grand Cayman real estate or renovating the old one:

• Calculate the costs:

Depending on the condition of your house, calculate the realistic costs. If you’re planning a full renovation with many structural changes, it will definitely be cheaper to start from scratch in that case.

• Local Laws:

Residential zoning laws and regulations vary from country to country and will have a large impact on your decision either to remodel or to buy a new house. Many countries require that you leave only a small part of an existing structure standing in order to qualify as a remodel. Make sure to check with the planning department to see if the plans for construction or remodel are viable.

• Needs:

Consider what your family and you need from a house and whether those needs can be met with a remodel. If you want to drastically expand the amount of square footage, you may consider buying an entirely new house on a larger property. If you can add an adequate amount of square footage by finishing a basement and turning it into usable space, remodeling may be the better, smarter choice. If you have detailed needs, perhaps building a home according to your specifications may be the better option.

• Consider your lifestyle:

It can be easier and cheaper to start with a clean slate rather than trying to fix an unworkable floor plan by extending an existing house. Buying a new home allows people to choose a new and modern home design to suit their needs, rather than trying to modernise an older version.

• Do you want the hassle of renovating on your weekends?

If you are a full-time worker or are raising a family, you need to ask yourself whether you really want to spend every weekend working on the house. Renovating can be very disturbing in your schedule, generally requiring the homeowners to move out for a period of time. On the other hand, new homes can be built to ‘turn key’ stage, where all you need to do is turn the key, walk in and enjoy.

• Budget for ongoing expenses

Maintenance of new furniture and homes are much easier than older ones, less susceptible to wear and tear, and more energy efficient.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Being patient at this point of time is very necessary. Depending upon whether you want to renovate your current home or buy a new home, it is vital that you do your homework first.