It's always difficult to decide whether to stay in the home you loved and created memories in or leave to experience a better, more convenient living condition.
"Families evolve, whether through the birth of children, the acquiring of possessions, or an increase in job rewards. That charming little cottage two lovebirds started out in often becomes an overstuffed matchbox with too few bedrooms and too many toys, tools, and tricycles, with people stumbling over one another in the course of daily life," said Money Crashers. "Privacy is nonexistent, noise and tensions regularly escalate, and stress is a frequent guest at the dinner table. The only solution is more room."
So how exactly do you know if you should just renovate or move? Maybe you should begin with finding out whether you can still do something about the issues that are pushing the idea of leaving your home.
Here are cost-effective solutions to the problem according to Realty Times:
Doubling the space in your kitchen
If you have a small kitchen, which is a common case for houses built before the 1980's, it's an option to remove a well that's diving your kitchen from the dining or family room. By opening up the area, the kitchen will feel a lot more spacious plus you get a chance to fit in an island as your workstation or just a spot for the family to congregate.
Adding a power bath on the first floor
An absent main floor bathroom is will not only make living in the house difficult, it will also make it difficult to sell. But you can always renovate your space. You can squeeze a powder room into a space as small as four feet by four feet or even three feet by five feet," says CNN Money. "One option is to repurpose a large coat closet, pantry, or under-stairs cubby. Keep in mind that the closer you put the bathroom to existing plumbing, the less it will cost."
Turning the master bedroom into a master suite
If you have a spare room adjacent to your master bedroom, it is a good idea to take over that space and build a master suite. A lot of people do this when the kids go off to college," said CNN Money.
But think of the idea carefully as the number of bedrooms can affect your home's value. "You always want to keep your bedroom count on par with the neighborhood," they said. "So, in a four-bedroom house area, dropping to three may not be a good idea. But in a predominantly two-bedroom neighborhood, you'd still be way ahead of the Joneses."
