When families buy an old house, they often wonder what is the highest and best use of their new purchase. It’s not always an easy decision if you want to modernize an aging property or if it’s better to knock it down and start fresh. We’ve asked our long-time friend Jasper Bryan who owns a demolition company in Texas, Lubbock Demolition Pros, to provide our readers with some pointers on things to think about when it comes to this important decision.
- Consider how long you plan to live there
Are we talking about a forever neighborhood? Is this somewhere you can establish your life over decades, send children to school down the block, and grow old and age in place? If you’re very keen on the location long term, then it may make sense to rebuild on the lot you own. Instead of needing to buy land and move down the road in the medium term, make that investment now because building costs are always rising. If you’re in a highly coveted neighborhood, your buildings value may also be rising over the next five to ten years and the appreciation will make up for the upfront building costs now if you decide to demo your house.
2. Think about the long-term costs of each option.
Often, it’s cheaper to remodel and make cosmetic renovation. However, if cosmetic renovations like changing flooring, upgrading kitchen cabinets, and repainting walls will last you 10 years or less before expensive upgrades are needed, then you may want to rethink when you want to bite the bullet. Changing roofing can be tens of thousands of dollars and if the bones of your house, structurally, are in bad shape then you’ll have to spend a lot of money upgrading them at some point. Alternatively, tearing down and demolishing your house to construct it back from the ground up is a significant investment. You should only do that if you are guaranteed to appreciate your assets value significantly and right on completion of your project.
3. How does the regulatory framework affect your decision?
Find out from your municipality if property taxes will change and if there are any zoning and building permits that you need to consider, for both options. For example, an old house might be grandfathered into many old rules, but if you’re making structural changes in your remodel then the whole structure might be under scrutiny of needing to meet current building codes. This could cause a building inspector to force you to make changes that you didn’t initially have in your plan and budget.
4. Do you know how long each option will take?
Of course, a complete building demolition and rebuild will take much longer than renovating your home, but do you have this difference calculated to the month? Keep in mind the carrying costs such as rent and thinking about where you’ll live during this period, as well as construction costs and construction financing. Like any construction project, it’s always best practice to leave in a significant buffer in case things come up that you don’t anticipate. You’d rather plan for it in advance and have a surprise happy outcome vs. stressing because your project is taking 6 months longer than you planned for.…