Remodeled, Rather Than Move
Situation:
When my husband, Dave, and I bought our house, we had two key criteria: "potential" and not a "HOBS" (house on busy street). Dave had always wanted to fix up a house and we found one we could afford that had lots of potential. Over a four-year period, we painstakingly remodeled it; only the bathtub, the front door, and a window seat were untouched. Friday nights at Eagle Hardware became a common "date." I learned lots of skills along the way: Hanging wallboard, joining copper pipes, using a chop saw and setting tile. Finally, when I was newly pregnant with our first son, we were finished. Hallelujah.
About the same time, one of my college roommates and her husband moved in next door with their newborn son. We loved having dear friends so close and a built-in support system of sorts. We took liberties accessing each other's homes in our absences to borrow things or if we ran out of ingredients; when I needed to take Dave to the ER for stitches, they took care of our boys. We even shared a jogging stroller, lawnmower, and video camera between our families. Jacque and I had our second sons a few months apart. We cherished watching our boys grow as friends.
When I became pregnant with our third son we had a decision to make. The home we'd so carefully fixed up wasn't going to work for a family of five. The boys' bedrooms were right near the kitchen and we found ourselves tiptoeing around. We also wanted each of our kids to have their own room. So, it was either move or remodel.
What We Did:
We didn't want to move since we loved our neighbors and neighborhood so much. It had good schools, an accessible outdoor swimming pool, and it was near our church. So we hired a builder, created a plan, and decided to build a 2nd story addition. We didn't calculate what the investment would be worth or whether we would recoup our costs. And we knew we were probably overbuilding as our neighborhood has mostly one-story homes. But, we knew we wanted to stay in this neighborhood, so we remodeled the home to meet our family's needs and didn't worry about what happened if we moved later.
Since we had three kids under the age of 4, we moved out for the remodel and rented a home nearby. It took five months to add about 1,000 square feet, six rooms, and a lot of curb appeal. I do recall it as the darkest winter on record for our family... we were pretty stressed. Thankfully, it went faster than most remodels we've heard of and that was mostly because we had a great builder, but also because Dave pitched in to help finish work at key times. The only casualty of the remodel was our original work of hanging wallboard had to be torn out. But we survived, and happily moved into our enlarged home as the tulips were starting to bloom in our yard.
Outcome:
The decision to stick with our neighbors has been affirmed over and over. Between our homes, the five boys are constant companions all summer and whenever possible during the school year. My husband built a fort that crosses between our two yards. It's our "compound" and we love it. Our two families host a block party every summer and we enjoy providing some of the neighborhood glue. We even have room to have an intern from our church live with us year-round.
When the boys grow up and move out, and if we decide to move elsewhere, perhaps this won't look so wise from a financial perspective. However, every time the neighbors knock and ask if our boys can play, I am reminded that we made the right choice.
- Kristin A., Seattle
