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CALCULATING THE RETURN from homeownership typically involves some mix of delusion and dubious math—and that’s never truer than when it comes to remodeling projects. On the numbers alone, it’s all but impossible to justify a major renovation. Trust me, I’ve tried.
We just finished a project that proved so expensive that, if I revealed the cost, my reputation for frugality would be in tatters. The cost was comfortably—or perhaps uncomfortably—into six figures. What if we sold our Philadelphia townhome tomorrow? I figure we might recoup half of what we just spent.
Many will claim they fare far better. These folks look at what they paid for their home and what their home is worth many years later, and boast that the increase was due to their fabulous home improvements. What about the general increase in local property prices during this period? That gets conveniently forgotten.
Before the liberal application of dollars
Indeed, the often-cited survey by Remodeling finds that most home improvements are money losers—and that assumes you sell your home within a year of completing the project. Wait any longer, and that bathroom remodeling will look increasingly shabby, and the sum you’re likely to recoup will be even less.
Shabby would aptly describe our pre-renovation kitchen. But that wasn’t what spurred our project. Instead, it all began with a vague feeling that the back of the kitchen was awfully dark. Wouldn’t it be great if we had bigger windows, so there’d be more natural light and a better view of the garden? Of such musings are empty bank accounts born.
Before we knew it, we had architectural drawings that envisioned a revamped kitchen, two new bathrooms upstairs and an expanded second bedroom. When the contractor quotes proved unpalatably large, we scaled back the project, so the cost was palatable—just. The revised plan for our home—which is perhaps 120 years old—included a new kitchen, new windows at the back of the house both upstairs and down, and new siding.
You can get some sense of the result from the accompanying before and after photos of the kitchen. Along the way, we learned some lessons old and new:
After the money fund was emptied
Was it all worth it? As I sit here at the kitchen table, looking out on the garden, and watching the birds and the squirrels attack the bird feeder, the answer is an unequivocal yes. From a consumption perspective, the renovation has been a winner.
But what about from an investment perspective? On that score, it’s awfully hard to justify. No matter what mental gymnastics I try, I can’t cook up a story where this project constitutes a good investment in the strictly financial sense. Still, I take solace in three thoughts:
Are these three thoughts solace enough? Perhaps they are—because we’ve lately been musing about the remodeling we didn’t do upstairs.
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 X (Twitter) @ClementsMoney and on Facebook, and check out his earlier articles.
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Our house is not an important/critical part of our net worth. We are lucky. I started keeping track of every expense on the house when we bought it new in 1997. After landscaping, improvements, remodeling the kitchen and bathrooms 10 years ago, we have spent more on the house than we originally paid for it. We’d do it again. It’s been a great place to live and very comfortable. I consider that a good use of money, even if we “lose” money when we sell.
Few things in life are slam dunk no brainers, so we should only expect our decisions to be based on a net positive score. Thanks for sharing how you approached it. I suggest approaching home improvement as a comparison to taking a vacation. We spend a bunch of money to go somewhere in hopes of a great experience hence memories, but weather, false advertising, airline delays, loud hotel neighbors, etc., might spoil expectations. So might cost overruns or a bad contractor, but you should end up with something that you can enjoy everyday for as long as remain there. That is a heavy weighting to overcome, particularly since some of the cost is an investment in the real estate (unless you are installing an Italian grotto in your dining room).
My wife and I have bought, fixed up, and sold six houses over the last 20 years or so. We’ve made money on all of them. The increase in value was primarily because of added square footage. Check out what houses in the neighborhood are selling for as cost per square foot. You can almost always add additional living space for less $ per square foot than you will eventually get for it when you sell.
Jonathan, I really like the new kitchen; it looks like money well spent! You have your life back now.
You might be interested in reading this homeowners project called “Peeling Back the Layers of a Kitchen Remodel” from JLC.
My husband and I bought our house in 1977 for $45,700. Today, we could probably sell it for $900,000. But I’d bet we wouldn’t make any profit. Over the years and to the present time, the remodeling has been constant. But we love our house and neighborhood, and the renovations have enabled us to age in place. Don’t regret any of the spending!
One of my daughters married a guy that had bought six acres of land with some worn out looking barns and a worn out tiny house on it out in the country for $75,000. A so called bargain. They plowed $50,000 into fixing up the house and are now talking about throwing in alot more more money to add rooms after having a baby. Though small, the heating and electrice bills are horrendous. To me it looks like a true money pit. The wiring is so old that it makes me fearful that the place might have an electrical fire one day. I think in their case they would have been better off buying a new home in a better location rather than attempt repairs. Even houses wear out.
Ken – Around here, many houses like you describe are bulldozed and rebuilt, sometimes with two or three houses on the original lot.
Congratulations! Time to enjoy it.
It’s all about planning, planning, and execution. When we bought our house in 2000, the first thing we did was to replace the kitchen including the ceiling and the floor + rearrange it + increase the island by 3 times = major overall. We visited Home Depot and Lows and selected in both the same cabinets. I made them compete against each other and why I got a 10% lower price twice = 20% savings. I made sure to have everything in our garage before starting the project. Several mistakes took 3.5 months to get it all right, but it was all in the garage. The project took just 2 weeks and 2 days to complete. The cost was very low because I made sure to buy everything in advance and store it in our garage. The kitchen still looks great and very functional and white is a great color to stay modern.
Recently, we did a new roof that had 2 huge skylights, each 9 x 4.5 FT. All the roofers wanted to replace them using glass + metal frames for $7-8K. I called local skylight installers and all of them said that these are too heavy and I must replace them with the same material I had for over 40 years which is plexiglas, much lighter and cheaper. The skylight were a special order that supported to manufature in 3 weeks. It took 7 weeks. We didn’t start the project until we had all the materials in our garage. We also found a great local small family owner roofer with many years of experience to replace these 2 skylights for just $3.3K, the rest was easy. It was done 2 weeks ago in 2 days. Big companies = big overhead = overpriced.
Conclusion: you must be involved in everything, ask a lot of questions, and be available on-site to make decisions to do it right the first time. I’m not an expert in anything, I just get plenty of quotes and opinions that teach me more each time.
Thank you for the article. I had been putting off most major projects at the house for a good 10 years for all of the reasons that you cited.
However, recently I have been reflecting on the fact that when my wife’s father passed away his widow immediately did all of the remodeling that he had made her put off. And then my wife told me about another older friend of hers that just finished all of the projects she had in mind for her home after her husband passed away.
Given that statistically men don’t live as long as women, and given my recent cardiac history, I could see where this was headed.
So I decided since getting this work done eventually was inevitable, I might as well get it done while I am alive to accomplish or supervise it, and enjoy the results. I can do some of the simple work, like repairing the drywall and repainting the walls, myself.
The repainted/wallpapered bathroom (with new lights and mirrors) looks very nice. And I love the new shower stall, although it cost a pretty penny. The new tile and backsplash in the kitchen didn’t cost too much, and now I am repairing the drywall and repainting the great room.
I’ve done more than half the work myself, and have thus far avoided the really big money items like new windows, cabinets, etc. So the financial impact hasn’t been too serious, and the cosmetic changes can provide a big “bang for the buck”.
I had forgotten what a good core workout a paint roller can be 🙁
Best of luck enjoying your “new” abode.
It reminds me of Jonathan’s classic from 2005, “How Houses Eat Money.”
I still remember the negative response to that article — a sure sign of a frothy market!
Jonathan – is there a link to this article that isn’t behind a paywall?
Not that I know of — sorry.
Jonathan,
Congratulations on the successful completion of your project! We likewise have fun watching the birds and squirrels at the feeder outside our kitchen windows. You might enjoy this app which helps you identify birds by appearance or by sound: merlin.allaboutbirds.org
We have also just finished a major kitchen remodel and are very happy with the results. We were able to remain in place throughout the process, which was challenging at times. On the plus side, I’m now very good at washing dishes in the bathtub!
I love your remodel, congrats, we can immediately see more light coming in & more cabinets for storage & more.
Thank you for this tip. I am intrigued…we are doing over a condo in FL and my plan was to break the bank and go to crate and barrel or pottery barn. Your friends are pleased with quality? My husband will be a hard sell – he says he needs to sit on the couch or chair.
yes, they are pleased with the quality, there’s also a 30 day free pickup return policy, still I recommend testing out something first for yourself as your husband says, it’s very important, drive everywhere to try out different brands, people’s definition of soft & firm are different etc.
If one has the money and intends to stay in their home for a while, renovating is a no brainer. There are so called experts out there who tell you how to decorate or design your home for resale. I’ve always ignored them and did what I wanted to enjoy the home while I am in it. Ultimately when the home changes hands, the new owners can change paint colors or renovate to their liking.
“Of such musings are empty bank accounts born.”
I love this sentence!
“When you open up walls, you never know what you’ll find.”
I’m pretty sure what I’ll find, every time: an expensive surprise.
“You can live happily in 550 square feet.”
I’m so glad you found this because I’m making a different “irrational” housing expenditure, buying a 40-year-old 400-square-foot single wide that sits on a rented cement slab, for which my brother expects I’ll spend $5-10 thousand more in immediate repairs & updates. Since it’s just me, I’m cutting your number in half to 275 square feet. (The classic, A Pattern Language, says a single person can be happy with 300 square feet, confirming your sentiment.)
I tell the kids my single wide is the size and shape of our hall plus three small bedrooms and a single bath attached off it. Forget the rest of our home, its living & dining rooms, kitchen & the entire upstairs.
My two rules of thumb for housing are:
1. Buy the worst looking home on the best street in the best neighborhood. Anything you do to improve things leads to happy neighbors.
2. Budget to spend at least 2% of the current value of your house each year on essential upgrades or repairs.
Remodeling and maintenance over 30 years have cost more than the original purchase price of my home (closing in on 100 years old). It always needs attention. And I’m adding to this effort with my new little place.
I’ll own both free and clear. Right now I still have two kids at home, soon one will be off. The other may stay on! The third might return! In our neighborhood, homes turn over rarely. People’s grandchildren move into their grandparents’ houses. Half the houses have stayed in the same family for a century.
When houses finally are sold on the market, they either have layers of dated and sometimes haphazard remodels or are in original condition. Of late, given some degree of neighborhood gentrification, houses are “remodeled” with complete gutting or tearing down the entire structure save a single wall (so as to avoid a reassessment of property taxes). These reflect changing dynamics of families (smaller, everyone working, etc.) as well as modern expected conveniences and style.
Enjoy your new space, and the anticipation in planning your next project.
Hi, I’ve enjoyed your columns. What do u plan to do with the house after moving into the “400-square-foot single wide”?
Thanks!
I’m going to take things slow I hope.
I’ll keep the family house for now, spending winter in AZ and summer in CA. At least that’s today’s fantasy.
My brother and sister in law live in this over-55 community already and they took several years to transition from “snowbirds” to “year rounders”. And to jettison the contents of their northern home (what couldn’t fit in their unit), and selling it. I expect to do something similar.
More Americans are skipping college. How to roll over their 529 funds into a Roth IRA. (msn.com)
Wow, these are some great plans, it sounds like your house in CA could be a huge money pit if you continue renovating and a future in another place might be a good alternative, slowly of course
I agree with your 2nd rule of thumb strongly. Very few people recognize the true all-inclusive cost of home ownership. Homes are an expense where you get tremendous pleasure out of owning them but if you are truly honest when figuring what they really cost you in dollars in most cases I think they barely keep up with inflation. This is after owning 5 homes over a span of 45 years.
Bill
Thanks!
I think aggregate inflation over the last three years is something like 20%? All my “safe” bonds took a drubbing in 2022 along with the stock market. I’m glad my house is about staying even, adjusted for inflation. I tell the kids that if I don’t need to sell it for late life health care (one really big potential expense I see in my crystal ball) that someday it can be sold and the proceeds split to provide everyone enough, not for houses of their own, but to help with down payments.
If the value of my house has tripled, say, so have all the other houses in town. “A house is worth a house” is how my brother and I characterize it.
Using 2% of its current value as my maintenance metric is better than 2% of original purchase price as it captures the increased costs of everything. Replacing a furnace today, based on my neighbors’ experiences, will cost me what would have been a year of mortgage payments back in the day. Remodel a kitchen, more than a house purchased thirty years ago.
2% of current value is a good number, some years are lower and some much higher. We bought our house 23 years ago and have put a lot of money into various renovations, re-landscaping, etc. We love the house and neighborhood it is in. But there is no way it would qualify as a good overall investment!
Remodels and updates of kitchens and bathrooms with reasonably good materials and appliances are very expensive but are are very important in homes that were built originally (50 to 70 years ago) as tract homes. My builder will not even talk about let alone estimate the cost per square foot for this kind of work because custom remodeling work can be very expensive.
Bill
Looks great! Been there, done that. We live in a 1942 bungalow, purchased 10 years ago. Over that time we’ve added a master suite (moved the laundry room, too), added a front porch that also replaced siding and repainted the exterior, removed an out-of-place dormer and added a really cool skylight (replaced the roof at the same time), replaced kitchen countertops and replaced the kitchen flooring with hardwoods that bridged between other hardwood floors, excavated and waterproofed the foundation, and numerous small things. Yes, we considered the costs and benefits each time, but the goal wasn’t payback – it was to help us enjoy our home and be happier when we were in it. This is our age-in place home, and we hope to be here and benefit from these upgrades for many years.
I think some people over emphasize the investment return of remodeling. If you are going to live there a long time, the enjoyment of your remodeled space offsets the investment loss.
If you expect to be a short timer in your home, the investment concerns are more important.
I feel so fortunate to be able to do this type of work myself. Not a contractor, a retired Laser Applications Engineer who happens to be handy and loves DIY (big fan of Ask This Old House, et al). I probably spent $100k over the last 28 years dialing in the “perfect house for me” that I hope to die in (single story home, close to healthcare). When the ex and I bought our Silicon Valley home in ’96 we thought $289k was WAY too much to spend on a house! Turned out I had to ‘buy it again’ when we divorced 10 years ago but the $416k I had to pay her to keep it was well worth it since it’s worth about $2M now, been paid for quite a while, and has a ’96 tax basis.
Thank the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association for your tax basis. Our Democratic California legislators have been trying to whittle away the limiting tax increases initiated overwhelmingly in 1978 (Proposition 13) by California voters.
Suspect the worst part is living thru the process but If you can comfortably afford it, you deserve it?? That’s part of why you’ve been thrifty. You spend a lot of time at home and it’s the stage for your life. Enjoy, times a wasting!!
We’ve been searching for a ranch for years and are about to give up. We have a split and would like to figure out how to reduce steps. At least we can reduce slope on one set to make them easier, when that becomes an issue. After the last snowstorm, are starting to think about heated steps for the front door. We’ve been super thrifty for years, time to open our wallets as well.
New kitchen is beautiful, enjoy!
Congratulations on the remodel! Kitchens are tough.
We just finished our down-to-the-studs kitchen makeover. In our case, there was no choice. The “before” being circa 1970s linoleum, fluorescent lights, and dark wood with an overhanging cabinet. We knew we were going to remodel when we bought the home at a significant discount.
By all accounts the result has been nothing short of transformative. We never imagined we’d recoup all of the significant investment—realistically I’m guessing we’ll see half of it back in a sale down the line, because it was such a major upgrade. What we didn’t realize was just how much joy we’d get from the new kitchen. When I amortize the cost over the next 10 years that we intend to stay in the house, there’s no question it was the right move!
We remodeled the kitchen in our previous home in 2018. It cost a LOT of money and it was GORGEOUS. I kid you not, right as the work was about to start, my husband took me over to a new condo community that was just starting to sell. Long story short, within two months of our kitchen being completed, we signed a contract for a brand-new condo. We actually did so early enough in the process that we got to make the design choices in the kitchen, and if you’d seen our previous and current kitchens, you’d notice similarities. We figured we’d made the design choices for the old kitchen just months earlier and knew what we liked.
I’m sure that the gorgeous new kitchen helped sell our home, but there is no chance that we recouped our expenses. Ah, well. Ironically, it was the kitchen remodel process that made me open to my husband’s urging to sell our house and move to a new construction condo. Two things were clear to me: (1) remodeling is really expensive and a lot of work and really disruptive and (2) having remodeled the kitchen, we were now going to want to update other parts of the house and the disruptive, expensive process would go on for years. Or, as my husband pointed out, we could move to a brand-new place with everything already done.
On “you can work from anywhere,” in May 2021, we had to vacate the condo for two weeks because there were defects in the HVAC installation that the builder was required by state law to correct. We went down to our timeshare property at the beach in Southern California for the two weeks. He worked from the kitchen table, and I taught my class over Zoom sitting on the couch. (The university was still remote from COVID at that point.) We had a good time after work and on the weekends being at the beach.
Congratulations on surviving the process, and on a lovely new kitchen. Not to mention a house that is no longer in danger of collapse!
I have always thought of a house as a place to live rather than as an investment. After I left my first husband I spent a couple of years in an apartment, which was fine until the woman above me got a puppy. It sounded like she was continually moving the furniture. About that time the divorce was finalized and I salvaged enough for a 10% down payment on a small house. I could also use the tax deduction on the mortgage. How much profit, if any, I might eventually make was not a consideration. I sold it over 30 years later, and I still have no idea whether I made any money on it, but in the words of the ad, the 30 years occupation was priceless.
Not sure I understand property taxes as an offset expense to the gain in a house. Without a house you pay rent and there is zero return.
Up the hill from me are apartments, small apartments I’ve been in one. Beautiful location on top of a mountain, they have pools and you can look out over the Manhattan skyline, but two (small) bedrooms rent for $5,000 a month. You can get a lot of house including property taxes for $5,000 a month and get some return better than zero.
The typical things people leave out when they compare rent to owning are the home insurance, the property taxes, and the income that would otherwise have been earned on the down payment/equity (not to mention costs of sale at both ends, but at least those are non-recurring.) But you almost certainly know this already :-).
These days down payments are quite modest so is there that much income lost? Even renters need insurance. Not arguing to rent or buy or that a house is a good or not so good investment, but rent is all down the drain, especially if the rent is equal to a mortgage/tax monthly payment and certainly at least some of houses costs are recovered even if no profit.
Don’t forget painting. After any renovation, there needs to be a paint job with prep work.
Also, houses need painting. This is an expensive recurring cost. Also, it can be disruptive.
When calculating the P/L of an in use investment, you have to do a full accounting. By ignoring the “dividend yield” of living in the house you squash the real return. How exactly do you value the renovation? Does it stop you from wanting to move? It definitely increases the rent value every month. Not straightforward. Definitely won’t make it a profit source. But very likely not the money pit we imagine, esp as you say amortized over a decade or two.
The lead carpenter might have had this in mind:
https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/5-8-earthquake-rattle-east-coast/
In 2013 we bought a condo situated on a golf course with a beautiful pond between us and the 4th green. We bought it from the bank at half the price it sold for 10 years earlier. We sold it last year for twice what we paid, but factoring in improvements and taxes paid we were lucky to break even. Now factor in what a similar investment in the appropriate index fund would have grown to. But we have to live somewhere and are lucky to have the means to live well. We just moved into a new home in an age 55 community and are looking forward to forging many new friendships here; I can’t figure out a way to assign a value to this.
So your new kitchen looks great Jonathan, enjoy it, you deserve it.
Your project is another great example of how a paid-off home can be “free like a puppy” and a source of many happy experiences. We savor our improvements often. Gratitude, not money math, is the soothing balm for most renovations. Yours looks beautiful, Jonathan.
Our recent behind-the-walls moment: about $25k to replace all CPVC piping for hot and cold water before our project could start. The stuff turns brittle with age, so no local plumber would touch it when we renovated baths and a laundry room recently. The happy ending: our house didn’t need emergency plumbing service through the recent arctic blast. Our neighborhood was swarming with trucks for broken pipes, and flood remediation.
The hardest part of renovating is the connectedness of things. Finding ways to stop at “enough” is an endless challenge I pondered again last night as Nancy pointed out an issue with a kitchen cabinet touched by the worst contractor we’ve worked with in our 35 years. Oh brother.
When you get tired of watching the squirrels and birds fight for the food, I suggest you try bird feed that is laced with cayenne, or some other hot spice. The birds love it and the squirrels try it once and don’t return.
We solved this by adding a small squirrel feeder we stock with a supply of nuts still in shells. Squirrels are smart, funny characters whose antics have had us doubled over laughing. The birds now dine in peace.
I’m glad you introduced the “from a consumption perspective.” If you begin with the assumption you might not recoup the cost of a substantial remodeling project, you just need to do the best you can to predict how long you will be “consuming” the improvement and, based on that, determine its value to you. A home is more than an investment. And yes, there are no guarantees that it will prove to be a good investment.
Not all investments are financial 🙂 This one was an investment in your joy and quality of life, and to those ends, I anticipate many dividends and strong appreciation! Heck, looking at your “after” photo even gave me a spark of joy too. No regrets, Jonathan! Great choice 🙂
Jonathan, the new kitchen looks great. I hope you and Elaine get many years of enjoyment. Vicky and I were discussing our housing journey yesterday, and the many remodeling we did in PA and at the shore. I think back to the various projects don’t regret any of them. A few I wish we had done earlier so we could have had more years of enjoyment.
We are looking at a few improvements in our new house in Monmouth. The house was built in the 1930s, and was renovated in 2018. I’m a bit nervous about what’s behind some of these walls!
Hi Jonathan, this is Chris. I didn’t think your before picture was so shabby. But it is a real blessing that you decided to remodel and found the structural issue before you had a real problem. The after picture looks great. Our son has a 100 year old house and it is always an adventure for him too.
We remodeled 4 houses before finally moving into a brand new house 3 years ago. At age 69, this is hopefully our last. During all of those remodeling projects, most of which we did ourselves (plumbing yes, electrical no), I can honestly say I never gave much thought into whether it was a good investment. There were only 2 reasons, quality of life and livability, or making the house easier to sell. Since we did most of the work we might have come a little close to break even or a little better. Our WORST “investment ” was having a pool built about 30 years ago. At the time, the pool and deck cost $25,000. My sister recently dropped $100,000 on a smaller pool. Pretty sure that will be her worst investment also😉
It would be an understatement to say I can relate to this story.
In the last two years we have remodeled two bathrooms, a kitchen, put in all new windows, a new deck, all new appliances, and painted the house inside and out. That bill was into six figures. It is our vacation home.
We are about to embark on a new kitchen in our condo- well in truth Connie and our son are doing the plotting. I occasionally am consulted as to what style cabinets I fancy.
I know we are looking at a price of at least $100,000 so I have started accumulating the funds, but I haven’t told them.
My criteria for the job is we hire grandchildren to remove all the stuff in the current cabinets and we live on Cape Cod during construction.
I have done all the calculations and I’m certain they both have a net gain with a very high ROI – a happy wife of 55 years.
Jonathan, You made the right choice. Now go ahead and enjoy! We renovated our 60 year old kitchen almost a decade ago, and never looked back. We too opened space to enjoy the backyard view, and allow easier entertaining for guests. Indeed, Even my cooking skills improved since I spend more time enjoying the space.
Jonathan, your kitchen is beautiful. The cabinet space and new lighting are wonderful.
A home provides you with a place to live, so it’s not something you can do without, like a share in a mutual fund. Therefore it shouldn’t be looked upon as an investment. You will probably sell it when it no longer fits your lifestyle and who knows what market conditions will look like then. Just enjoy it all now.
Over the past 45 years I’ve remodeled parts of four houses in the Midwest, West Coast, and East Coast. When I was young, friends and a nephew who were beginning their careers in construction would help me (and teach me) on the weekends and evenings. Some of the work was modest – adding a shower, building a deck, or creating a basement family room. Other projects were more involved – total kitchen and bathroom renovation. I learned early on the limits of my skills and time (my day job was in education) and hired professionals to do electrical and structural work. Now 3+ years into retirement, my wife and I moved into a condo five months ago that requires minimal remodeling. Just last week we had three contractors in for estimates for some minor changes in our place. For me, remodeling has involved creating a more spacious and/or comfortable living space for our family. I have also felt that remodeling – if done right – can contribute to maintaining the quality of housing stock in a community. We always tried to leave the houses we sold in better shape than when we bought them.
Our remodeling projects have allowed us to stay happy in our starter home. I have no doubts that the costs of selling our house to upgrade would have cost us more! Also, we have been able to stay neighbors with some of my favorite people! Not everything can be valued in dollars. Enjoy your beautiful home!
Congratulations and may you and Elaine enjoy decades being comfortable & safe in your lovely home!
I can relate to the dust and 6-figure busted budget…we are at the point of spending as much on improvements and landscaping as our purchase price of our home and extra lot…and barely have touched the upstairs. Our main floor, and now bright and current-century walkout basement, provide much pleasure and an opportunity to host wonderful parties for our family and friends. And room for our dog to run happy zoomies.
Don’t look back!
I feel your pain and your joy. We have completely renovated a 100 year old home and built a new one. The cost to our financial independence was considerable. We downsized after geoarbitrage and now live in a paid off comfortable, modest home. I sometimes wish we had started in a low cost of living area in a modest home first and FIRE’d. We also had great memory dividends from our housing journey. Life is a series of trade offs. Unlike Paula Pant, we thought we could afford anything and have everything. In doing so you sacrifice time freedom. It sounds like you have been more prudent than we were in your renovations and are spending money that you have. Just don’t get carried away!;)
Most certainly the right thing to do Jonathan, providing you have made the decision to stay in your house long term and can afford it. What I did not hear were words such as comfort and enjoyment, because that is what you will experience. As one who also made 6 figure improvements redoing 2 bathrooms the kitchen and adding a sun room over looking our small lake, I enjoy it all as much or more now at age 83 as I did 8 years ago when undertaken. As a serious investor and one who spends a lot of time at home, I never looked at it from an investment perspective and if asked today would I do it again? The answer is unequivocally yes!
Great looking kitchen, Jonathan. I say it was worth it. You love your area of town and aren’t moving anytime soon, you corrected a structural problem, and you now receive aesthetic benefits not only inside but outside. Besides all that, you already have more than enough to live comfortably in retirement —and you can’t take it with you. In fact, maybe we’ll start considering our own remodeling project!