New House or Addition??

A friend of mine put an addition on their home and it actually caused it to not sell for a very long time. The cost of their home compared to neighboring homes was not equitable. Their house was much more and no one even looked at it for months and months. I say in these times it might be better to look around and see what is available. The perfect home might be right around the corner and half price.

Yes, you might be stuck with 2 house payments for a while but a newer, larger home, with a bigger area for MIL might be just what is needed to reduce crowding and stress.

I suggest talking to 2-3 real estate agents and getting their opinions. Find out the value of our house as is, and what it might be with a renovation. Talk to a carpenter/construction company for bids on what you want to do. That might be your deciding factor. We looked at various renovations back in January and talked to 2 real estate agents. It was recommended to do some improvements and sell, we really wanted to sell, but weren't sure what was worth our money. We did what was suggested, and our house sold within 5 days of listing. We put an offer in on another house the day we listed ours, with the conditions of selling ours first. I am in area where housing prices haven't dropped really at all, but I didn't expect ours to sell that fast! It is well worth your time and money to get some estimates on renovations and decide what is better for you. Renovations are costly, be sure you love your house and neighborhood before doing anything more than painting!

I say neither. Wait. I have 2 kids sharing a bedroom. You could do that as well. Even if they are opposite sex they could easily share a room until they are in elementary school. By that time, hopefully the housing market has gotten better & it will be an easy sell.
If your older one is already in school, then I can understand not wanting them to share. If that's the case, then I would try to sell. Unless you think the addition will add value to your house & make it easier to sell. But it sounds like any addition would be awkward & not add value to your house. Which would make it hard to sell later.

Have you eve been through a renovation? Contractors will tell you they see more divorces due to re models.

I did an addition a few years ago, and I went with the BEST company around and all it takes is one item not to arrive on schedule or it arrives damaged and you are doomed to many, many months of unfinished business everywhere taking up your space and time and energy. And you'll be navigating through chaos. So if you are up to an environment that is completely dishelveled for months/years on end, then you might want to consider that option.

I recommend to buy another. Moving is much easier.

How do you feel about your neighborhood? We moved to a larger house in a new neighborhood and our kids hated the new 'hood. People weren't nearly as friendly and they missed all their old friends. We had a beautiful house, and a miserable family...sold the nice house...moved back to the old 'hood and have an older home, but happy family. Just saying there are more considerations than $$.

Hi, M.:

Make a second story or third story.
Good luck.
D.

I say put your house on the market, when it sells, then look for a house that accommodates all of you. That way you are not sitting around with two houses. Worse case scenario you all live in a furnished, rented townhouse or weekly hotel or something until you find another house. See - no risk and only one move.

I am pretty sure you would be unhappy with the addition, decks, family rooms and driveways are pretty important areas.

Good luck

As for an addition, can you go up? Over the garage add a room maybe? Otherwise I would say just put the kids together. My kids are 2.5 years apart. My daughter will be 6 and my son just is turning 3. We have a very small 2 bedroom, so they have been sharing. It has worked out just fine. they will have no choice but to share for a few more years yet. The room is so tiny all I can fit in there is the two beds, and one regular kids dresser and one very small dresser. And there is no room for anything else or to even walk in there but it still works. They both mostly just sleep in there. They play in the small living room. It is not ideal but it works. It was not quite as cramped before my son moved to a regular twin bed, but they do go in to play/jump on their beds. Good luck!!!!

M.,
I would first try and see what the value of your house is now and find out if you will gain or not some money from the sale of the house. It is easy for you to buy a house for less money today than it was 3 or even 2 years ago, but is it worth it for you. Also, find out what are the chances of renting your house for the same amount of your mortgage payments so you at least come out even with that; but ideally it would be better to rent it out for more than what you pay. Make plans ahead of time to allow you to cover the expenses of both houses if the other one doesn't sell in enough time. If it all works even, then maybe it be best to buy a house. Look into getting estimates about the addition and see which one will be better and less costly. Either way, it will be a lot of work for you :)
Blessings

Waht layout is your house? Can you build up? My husband and I keep talking about moving / expanind and we can't decide either.

If you truly are not happy with any of the possible expansion scenarios, talk to a real estate agent. Normally when you are buying a house you can make the purchase contignet upon you being able to sell yours.

Also, in this market from what I have seen in my area it looks like only houses that are reasonably priced are selling, so you may not get as much as you want for your house; but it should sell.

Good luck!

I interviewed builders and remodelers for three weeks straight. They wanted so much to add on, it was cheaper to buy a brand new house! You can always list your house and see what happens. I know several families who almost gave up on selling their $$$$ homes this year, but finally they did.
The ones wanting to make a profit are still on the market. People who wanted to break even on the house were able to.
Check with a realtor, but I believe if you list your home you can only be forced to sell if someone offers you FULL PRICE. You can test the market all you want;-).
I loathe realtors and feel most deserve nothing, but I have been able to find a few good ones over the years. Make sure you trust them, they price your house right(not lying to get you to list with them), and that they are always available when you call. Good Luck.
P.S. For some reason, empty homes don't sell as fast so don't move out unless you can stage it with the LR, DR, and master having furniture.

We are in a similar boat. We have a two bedroom house and our children share a tiny room. You have several options:

1. Build a room onto the back of your house (losing half of your deck but you could put an exterior door on it so your mother would be apart from the house and it wouldn't take as much to connect the room to the house). You could always add a bigger deck after you are done.

2. Do you have a garage? Convert it into a room/sitting room for your MIL and give one of your children her room.

3. Put your kids in the same room. My children are 2 years apart and we kept my son in our room for the first six months and now they do wonderfully in the same room. Since it's small, we'll get a twin with a pullout trundle after he moves out of his crib.

4. Do you have a basement that you could renovate to make into a room for your MIL?

5. Ask your MIL to move out or pay rent (mean but may be necessary).

6. Put your house on the market and see where it goes. You know you can put the baby in your room for a few months so you should have a bit of time. I'd first find out how much it appraises for and then compare that to how much you owe. Right now ours is appraising for 20K+ less than what we bought it for a few years ago. OUCH!

If the market does not get better and we decide to stay, our short term cheapest solution is to renovate our one car garage. Then we'll figure out all the specifics of adding another one or more space or moving in the future.