I’M ABOUT TO MOVE OUT of my home for four or five months. Yeah, this takes some explaining.
In February 2020, when I was planning my move to Philadelphia, I wrote down 10 criteria I’d use to pick my new home. I recently re-read the article—and realized I broke the final two rules I’d laid down for myself.
To be sure, the home search didn’t go quite the way I planned. For starters, there was this little hiccup called the pandemic. Then the buyer for my New York apartment dropped out. Then another buyer dropped out. Meanwhile, the real estate market went bonkers.
I looked for a place in Philadelphia for almost a year and was outbid on the first four properties that I made offers on. By the time it came to the fifth property, I knew I needed to be more aggressive. I offered the asking price and was told two others had bid the same, so I reluctantly upped my offer by 2%. I won that bidding war—by a whisker.
On the year-long journey to that home purchase, my parsimonious nature and my persnickety criteria slowly relaxed, as it met the reality of Philadelphia’s frothy property market. Result? I not only paid slightly more than the asking price, but I didn’t get quite the home I wanted.
I knew that was a risk. Indeed, in my February 2020 article, I mentioned that, “Even if homebuyers draw up [a] detailed wish list, there’s still a danger that—in the heat of the moment—they’ll make some snap judgment that overrides the rules laid down earlier by their calmer self.”
So, what were my final two rules? No. 9 stated that, “While I’d remodel the place if I had to, I’d rather not. I’ve overseen enough remodeling projects in my lifetime. I don’t want the disruption and it isn’t how I want to spend my time.”
Meanwhile, rule No. 10 specified that, “I’d rather not have a basement or, failing that, a finished basement. I realize my aversion is somewhat irrational. But to me, basements mean vermin and possible flooding. What if the basement has French drains? Puh-leeze. That’s just an admission of defeat.”
The house I bought doesn’t have a finished basement, but it does have French drains. Still, since buying the place, I haven’t had a problem with water in the basement and I’ve never heard the sump pump kick into action, so I’m not quite sure why the French drains were installed. The upshot: While I broke rule No. 10, I’m inclined to cut myself some slack.
Rule No. 9 is a different story. Amid the craziness of 2020’s housing market, I had just 30 minutes to look over the house before making a bid. Everything seemed to my liking. But once I moved in, I found the kitchen to be somewhat dated and dark, and I started mulling some cosmetic changes that would make the place more to my liking. Long story short, those cosmetic changes ballooned into a full-blown remodeling, including a reconfigured kitchen and new, expanded windows upstairs and down.
Over the years, I’ve heard all too many homeowners justify their remodeling projects as an “investment.” I’m under no such illusions. I figure that, if I sold my house the day after the remodeling is done, I might recoup 60% of the money I’m about to spend, and perhaps far less. Make no mistake: What I’m doing here is spending money, which is not my favorite thing to do.
Still, with these improvements, I’m hoping to make the house a place where I’ll happily spend the next 15 years and perhaps longer, depending on my health. Thanks to the reconfigured kitchen, I’ll be able to sit at the breakfast table, look out on the postage-stamp backyard, and merrily write and edit HumbleDollar articles.
But to turn that vision into reality, I need to decamp from the house. I toyed with trying to live here through the renovation, but it would be simply too hard to work with all the noise, plus—without a kitchen at my disposal—I’d likely end up eating all the wrong things. The upshot: I’ve booked an Airbnb for the next five months. That might sound like a costly proposition. But going that route turned out to be 40% less expensive than the cheapest sublet I could find.
When is it worth remodeling a home? Offer your thoughts in HumbleDollar’s Voices section.
Jonathan Clements is the founder and editor of HumbleDollar. Follow him on Twitter @ClementsMoney and on Facebook, and check out his earlier articles.
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Jonathon — I heard on This Morning podcast you saved too much money for retirement so spend it please, even if it seems illogical. I’m an analytical person but realize as you get older to not get over analytical in important life decisions. Happy next 15+ years and here’s to good health! From a recent retiree…
We’re currently visiting a part of Italy we like a lot and would consider living in for a few years. An extended residence visa requires proof of a place to live for a year, and rentals are so scarce that doing so basically implies buying a place. If we did it, Rule No. 9 would be a big one. While we’d be okay making it the way we want in the US, we have less than zero desire to oversee a remodel in Italy. Of course we recognize that some things wouldn’t be perfect and would be ready to accept that.
I’d also be interested in knowing how you found & vetted your contractor as you seem to be a very thorough person in all that you do. Did you check some references? I’ve heard many contractors don’t even respond to these requests. Thanks
We interviewed two architects and subsequently got bids from two contractors. The cost of the two architects and the bids from the two contractors were all very similar, which was comforting. Once we settled on a contractor, we took various things off the table to bring the price down. But the whole thing is still painfully expensive. That said, after a lifetime of living in places that fell short in one way or another, I’m looking forward to a home that’s just the way I want it.
We are doing some minor upgrades to our kitchen and bathroom, but not full blown remodels.
I am a fairly utilitarian guy, and would not have done the work if left to my own devices.
But I noticed my mother-in-law made major changes to her home when my father-in-law passed away. And my wife told me about a similar occurrence with a widow friend of hers.
so I realized the work that my wife wanted to get done would happen with or without me. So I might as well help pick a good contractor and enjoy the result. 😂
We had a not-too-different experience, but discovered one VERY Fundamental rule that you must include: If you are moving to be near your kids/grandkids, you’d better make sure that you get along with them first! Try it out!! We gave up our wonderful home in Tucson, Arizona, and all of our favorite retirement activities to move to Orlando, Florida, to be near my son, daughter-in-law and three-year-old granddaughter last September. It was likely a pandemic panic–we had no relatives in Tucson and they had none in Orlando. We bought a house on Facetime, never having seen it, but because it was near their house. Then we sold our home and gave away most of our furniture for the cross-country move. The Orlando house was far from perfect, in need of some repairs, and was not well-suited to our posessions (no garage for hubby’s hobbies, for example). New furniture was backordered for months, but the worst two things were that we hated Orlando, the traffic and crowds, and we didn’t get along with our daughter-in-law who limited our access to our granddaughter. We babysat twice in six months and spent most of our days at home alone in the more-or-less empty house.
We have just finished moving back to Tucson, and are building a new home here. We’ve reengage in our favorite activities and are happily rekindling our friendships here. We’re renting now and trying to sell the Orlando home. All the financial markets are making that more difficult, but we are happy to be back! It’s been an expensive six months for us, but now we know we are happy here, even if we have no relatives in the area!
When Letterman started a new gig, he quipped “Before you spend more time with family, make sure to first check with the family.”
thank you for sharing your experiences. I’m struggling with that now. Hate the state and area where I live, but it’s the only place with any family nearby. It helps to read about others who don’t necessarily follow the advice often shared here and on other forums – stay where you have family.
Living close to relatives is often overrated, imo.
Esp if you’re the one with the big house and host all the family gatherings! Gee, I like hosting, but can I receive an invite every once in a while?!
This almost suggests a new Rule No. 1, except it’s largely unactionable: Be lucky in your timing.
Maybe a watered-down version: If the time looks right in the market, which you can’t control, be more flexible in your personal timing, over which you may have more control.
I bought my retirement dream house in a down-market 30+ years before retiring, and renters paid for it about 1.5 times-over in the interim. “Be lucky” played a role in that one.
Well played!
Our house was built in 1997. We moved in that year. I’ve been keeping detailed records of costs and we’ve now spent more on the house “improving it” than we did buying it. It was never an investment, it was our home. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. Remodeled the kitchen and bathrooms 9 years ago. Took about three times longer than we expected. Our contractor found things and asked us if we wanted it that way. We said, “No” and were able to fix it while it was being done. That added weeks but it was worth it and we appreciated what the contractor did for us. We watched of lot of Mike Holmes Make It TV episodes and count our blessing that we found a good contractor.
Right. The house isn’t really an investment, so neither are renovations.
I’ve remodeled 4 house in 40 years, all as do it yourself projects, some fairly extensive. Finally my wife said ENOUGH! For our retirement I bought her a brand new house where she got to pick all the finishes and decorate to her hearts content. I don’t miss the projects either. Enough yardwork and landscaping to keep me busy, plus more time for travel and pickleball.
Jonathan, great article and very timely—we’re just beginning the search for a contractor to remodel our kitchen. I hope you’ll post many follow-ups along the way as I know your insights will be enlightening.
Enjoyed reading – thank you. I admire those who push thru the remodeling headaches to reap the rewards.
I live vicariously through everyone else’s adventures, but am so thankful I don’t have that itch to scratch.
I couldn’t care less about updated design or better/bigger space. I go out to visit friends & family: no one to host/entertain. The only remodeling I’d ever consider is by necessity: after a natural disaster.
My modest starter home has all that ’80s stuff you guys ditched! It’s the “before” in a before & after.
When I sell, I’ll splurge on fresh paint, fix anything broken and ensure a quality roof, HVAC and water heater. Then list it cheaper than my neighbors who will strive to recoup a portion of their remodeling bucks. Some energetic new owner will get a good deal and enjoy creating the home of their dreams.
I suspect I’ll still be ahead, even after selling for less $.
I too look forward to pix and additional tales about your remodel!
In 1993 we bought a 60-year-old place, the worst looking house on a good street (all we could afford in a downturn when the sale of our old house fell through.)
We figured whatever we’d do would be well received by neighbors who’d endured weird remodels by a couple of previous owners. We started by removing bad additions but never did anything comprehensive.
Thirty years later the house has long been paid for, is still standing, and has received maintenance and periodic modest redos. The most satisfying improvements (ROI numbers usually support this) were baths and kitchen; also replacing single pane windows which greatly reduced noise and increased energy efficiency but is not generally considered favorably in ROI calculations. The most crucial changes repaired/replaced things as they wore out. Also, giving the kids enough personal space to not drive themselves (and us) mad. Still has some quirks and things that I’ll never pay for, leave them to the next generation. Always something needs work in a house this age.
The first contractor we showed our house suggested we demolish it and build new on the site. Maybe the next owner will do that but the house is closing in on its 100th birthday and I think the place has some life left. We hit paydirt on our third general contractor and have called him back several times.
Good luck to you!
We have lived in our 69 year old house for 23 years and renovated many things including adding a 300 ft2 addition. The best decisions we made were to always use high quality materials and use an excellent general contractor for almost all of the work. He is very experienced, only uses good subcontractors, and he and I work very well together. I am sure I could have found someone less expensive but I really like working with this guy and his followup on minor issues has been excellent. When I need something done now I don’t shop the project around, I just go straight to this guy.
One thing I have consistently found is that the good contractors and subs don’t need to advertise, word of mouth is sufficient to ensure a good backlog of business for them. If a contractor of any sort is advertising a lot I am very reluctant to talk with them about a project.
At this point I feel we would get back about what we have put into the house from a financial perspective. We really enjoy living here which is a huge pleasure for us, the house meets our needs and desires exactly.
Bill
Don’t let your contractor know you don’t get competitive bids. I’m sure he’s a great guy, but he’s still in business to make money😉
Seriously? Have you ever heard of this variable called ‘weather?’
You have no way of knowing how many times the sump pump has kicked on in the past, and the reason there’s no evidence of prior flooding is because the pump is doing its job.
Thank you for the sarcastic comment. That will endear you to the HD community. I’ve owned the place for more than 2 1/2 years and — no doubt this will shock your sarcastic soul — there has been weather, including a tropical storm that caused the nearby river to flood neighboring streets. Result? No sump pump action.
Pour water into it every now and then to see that it works. Also consider having a battery backup.
I was wondering whether it is just very quiet? I had a sump pump in the crawl space under my house (no basement) and I know it ran, probably fairly often, but I never heard it. Of course, my hearing isn’t the best…
Good for you, Jonathan. The investment you’re making in remodeling will pray itself back, plus more, through years of enjoyment. As they say, you can’t take it with you, so might as well use our hard earned money while we’re here. 😎
Will your AirBnb be in Philly? Rachael and I would love to come down to see you and Elaine again.
best of luck!
Thanks, Jim. It would be great to see you and your bride-to-be. The Airbnb is halfway between our current home and Rittenhouse Square, so we’ll be even closer to the heart of the city.
Here’s a pro tip: Be sure and drop in periodically to check on the work and its progress, to make sure the project is proceeding in a fashion that is to your liking. Although it can be distressing to see the mess, dropping in is a good way to make sure that the work you asked for is being done, and your home hasn’t turned into someone else’s project. I’ve seen it happen quite frequently; the project *you* had in mind is somehow not the project the *contractor* has in mind. Funny how that can happen sometimes.
I had my house renovated rather than remodeled, but I was fortunate that my interior designer took care of choosing and supervising all the contractors. I moved out for part of the process and she opened and closed the house each day. She was worth every cent I paid her. Unfortunately she has moved to California.
Completely agree. For anyone considering a major home remodel you need to be active in what is being done. Yes, you have a general contractor running the project, but you need to be the project manager. I did a complete remodel of a 3000 sf home 18 years ago that I stayed in the house during construction. I often had to have items corrected and was there to provide guidance when needed.
I also suggest to take pictures of plumbing and wiring when the walls are open. This will be very useful if you ever need to do repairs in the future.
All the best on your home remodel.
very good tip about the pictures .
The Airbnb is only a five- or six-minute walk away. We’ll be back at the house at least a few times a week, if only to pick up the mail and grab forgotten items out of the basement and master bedroom.
I can attest to the issues remodeling from 300 miles away. FaceTime has helped though.
Being around your project is also the only way that you will see something that needs fixing or changing before it gets covered up. In our recent kitchen remodel in a 110 year old house, it became clear that much of what we needed to spend was to fix damage and bad repairs from prior remuddles. Do a little homework and ask questions. Your contractor may get a little testy if your are a pest, but its your house/investment and any problem that gets covered up will only be much more expensive to fix down the road.
Looking forward to hearing more about your remodeling job. It’s a good idea to do it if you can afford it & it will bring a much nicer home & working environment. ‘Before & After’ pictures would be nice if you would like to share them, as are helpful tips about contracts or anything else you encounter along the way. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve taken the nudge — and will take some photos!
If you can afford it do it, has always been my model. I want to live in a space that i love. I bought the house next door a couple of years ago because I needed a bigger back yard. I had just finished all of my projects with my house, then had to do it all over again. But I have the house I love, and that makes me happy. Truth be told, I have 5 semi feral cats who live in my backyard and garage, that’s why I moved next door.
The drywall dust will be awful. Change your filters frequently & consider duct cleaning.
Also, display your permits! Take plenty of before and after pictures, that’s one of the fun parts!
Your HD community would have been pleased to host you for an extended jaunt across the country, (& supplied plenty of fodder for your next fiction book!) The offer’s open for next time!
Thank you!
No basement? Where would you set up your table saw, drill press, lathe, and milling machine?
Why, in the attached 3-car garage, of course!
After finishing a major renovation, I recommend budgeting at least +20% in time and $ for surprises. Until you cut away drywall most estimates are just good guesses. Oh and remember the Serenity Prayer. Good luck!
Good point, especially if previous work was done by a DIY “expert.”
Yeah, or a FBN (that’s “Fly By Night”) “professional”.
Indeed. Every GC has dozens of horror stories about discovering DIY headaches on renovations. They all seem to end with “so we had to rip and replace X for another $Y,000”.
Five months? That’s quite a project.
Is remolding worth it, a good investment? That depends on whether it was a wife’s idea in which case it is the best investment assuming it turns out exactly as envisioned- good luck with that.
In the 36 years since we bought our vacation home we added central AC, converted from elec to gas heat, doubled the size adding a bedroom, bathroom, family room and dining area, and added a deck. Then we added a laundry room and converted the garage into a grandkids room.
In the last two years we remodeled the kitchen and two original baths, replaced all the windows, replaced the deck and then it was decided the stained woodwork was too 80s and now it’s white and the entire inside was painted. Add routine maintenance like a roof and outside painting.
After all the work is done the “we should have,” “I wish we had thought of that,” “Look how they did it in this magazine,” begins.
Good investment? You betcha, even as you go over budget. .
Good luck with the renovating. This is exactly why we bought a home for retirement that was only 20 years old, needing only a cosmetic update for the kitchen (we wanted white cabinets instead of the brown, silestone counters, etc.). Renovating is not fun. Also, we bought on a lake in Massachusetts so we didn’t need to have a summer home on the cape or islands. Traffic to the cape is not fun.
We also sold our Florida home so no more snowbirding for us. Florida is super crowded and going in the wrong direction in many ways. It is no longer a cheaper place to live anymore.
So now we have a backyard that is hugely expanded because of the lake. We have a finished walkout basement that the grandkids kids love to play in, with no water problems.
We bought our house new from a builder.
What did window replacement cost? Replacing siding and windows is the last future big expense for us if we stay another 10-15 years.
$750 a window – Anderson with screen.
My dad always said, “a home is a place to live; not an investment.” I figure might as well enjoy it while living there.
Did you visit with your insuanace company to see if your homeowner’s insurance stays in effect if you’re not living in the house? I know a person who moved out during a remodel and they needed to purchase a builder’s risk policy for the period they were not living in their house.
Adjusting your initial plans to fit the reality is a marker of beneficial flexibility. Good for you, Jonathan.
We’ve been through an addition and several renovations in our 1942 bungalow and have always decided to stay. It was difficult and dirty at times, especially as I worked from home during the 2015 addition, but moving out would have added to the cost of the project.
Jonathan, out of necessity we slept in nearly every room in our house as we remodeled room by room. We also set up a temporary kitchen in the laundry room, and ate meals outside for a while. I think you are wise vacate the premises until all is complete.
Oh, that was the fun part! Doing dishes in the laundry room sink. Camping with a roof!
Great article. Remodeling is a perfect example of life’s financial complexity.
The end result in our kitchen remodeling project proved much better than I envisioned, especially given my initial financial management focus. Looking back, it was an adventure which involved adapting during the extended process. But it was well worth it.
Amen to #1, we’ll never recoup our funds from the 2008 kitchen, the 2013 landscaping, patio, & pergola, the 2021 basement remodel, or the 2023 windows. But the 1970s wanted its stuff back, so it had to go.
We worked our tails off and now get to really enjoy our homestead, rather than just on the weekends.
Bravo for making your home your castle & stimulating the economy!
We are mostly through the construction phase of our wilderness cabin. We plan to spend many hours over breakfast looking out over the 26 acre backyard that merges into thousands of forested acres. Our rural housing market is much different. Very inexpensive land and very low cost construction here. Houses are slow to sell and sellers never get their asking price. They have to settle for significantly less than that. It’s definitely a buyers market. So much better to have waited out the covid bubble, now that everything is back to normal and prices have fallen on labor and materials. Although I do think both house prices and the cost of construction will continue to drop a good bit since the higher interest rates and likely coming recession will diminish demand for both. But it’s not a bad time to be a cash buyer instead of a mortgage seeker.
Your place sounds heavenly. I love all the “building off the grid” shows. Enjoy every step!
We probably learn more from our failures than our successes, and that is one thing I like about your HumbleDollar: you and many of your writers are honestly examining their actions. This can be hard to do publicly, and I appreciate it. (sort of the un-Facebook)
Love this: HD the Un-FB. +1 re failure is a better teacher.
Jonathan this sounds like a good time for a long trip!