Improve, Don’t Move: 3 Benefits of Home Improvement

At some point in our lives, many of us will reach a time where we start to feel the need to either make drastic improvements to our homes, or think about selling up and moving on. For us, we are rapidly outgrowing our current home, with two children rapidly approaching their teenage years and a pre-schooler all cooped up together, we could definitely use some more room, and fast! But, moving house is extremely costly!

At the moment, we love the location of our current house. It’s in a lovely, quiet cul-de-sac, close to both schools, walking distance to shops and we have a lovely garden. We just need more room inside the house.

Moving house is widely accepted as being the most stressful thing a couple can go through, with research showing that it’s even more stressful than going through a divorce. Questions like “Can my ex claim money after divorce?” will be replaced with debates about what you’d like from your new home, how you will manage the move, and where all of the money will come from to get the job done.

Avoiding this sort of stress can be as simple as choosing to improve your current home, rather than moving to a new one. Extensions, renovations, and even adding new buildings will all give you more time and breathing room than going through a move, taking away the stress that comes with jobs like this.

3 Benefits of Home Improvement over Moving House

1. Save money

As a money-saver by nature, one of the biggest concerns for me when it comes to thinking about moving house is the cost.

The estimated, average cost of moving house in the UK is currently a staggering £9,327.99! There are so many hidden costs to consider – stamp duty, estate agent fees, moving costs. It quickly adds up!

Home improvements can come in at considerably less and can make a huge difference to family life. You can get a good idea of how much a job is likely to cost here.

One thing that would make a drastic difference for us would be to have a downstairs toilet. The cost of doing that using local plumbers would probably be less than £2,000 and would make a considerable difference to our lives. As a family of five, only having one bathroom can be problematic, and I can only see this getting worse as the children get older!

You can also make a huge difference to your kitchen on a budget simply by replacing your kitchen doors. You’d be amazed what a difference it makes.

2. Improve the value of your home

If you’re savvy about it, then creating extra space in your current home could increase the value of the property which is great news if you do ever come to sell up.

Loft conversions, downstairs toilets, extensions and solar panels will all make your property more appealing to buyers, and should bump up the price, particularly if you’re adding extra bedrooms. You don’t need to make massive changes to make a big difference to the kerb appeal either. You can get great deals on solar panels these days, check out the best solar in san diego to see just how affordable solar panels can be.

With the advancements in solar technology, outfitting your property with solar panels reduces your carbon footprint. It is a long-term investment, potentially increasing your home’s attractiveness to eco-conscious buyers. Researching reputable providers for solar power for home solutions in your area can lead to substantial savings on energy bills while bolstering your property’s market appeal.

If you do decide to extend, make sure that you are careful about how you do it. There’s no point in creating a lovely, big, spacious 4 bed house that doesn’t have a garden because the extension has eaten it all up. Families need outdoor space too, so make sure you bear that in mind.

You can also improve the saleability of your home with a few simple touches such as updating the kitchen or even improving the look of your hallway and staircase. There are lots of staircase ideas you could use to really brighten up and modernise your home.

If you’re worried about living through all the mess that comes hand in hand with home improvements, then it’s worth looking into after builders cleaning services. Not only will this help to take the pressure off, but you’ll get a professional cleaning job rather than finding dust for months to come! You can also click here now to find out more about different house cleaning options that will help you to stay on top of your cleaning.

3. Stability

As a child, we were really lucky with our home. When I was 3, the four of us moved into a three bedroomed, detached house. My parents then added a big extension onto the side of the house, making it five bedrooms with a huge kitchen downstairs. We lived there until I was an adult, and I do think that the stability of staying in one place was really important to me growing up.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to offer the same to my children, upping and moving them 4o miles away from their friends a couple of years ago, but we’re now putting down roots in our new town and I think it’s important for us to continue to offer them the stability of staying put now.

Staying put means that you create a little world for yourself and your family, where you get to know your neighbours, and you get to know the area around you, this can be really important to children, so it’s worth thinking about before you decide to sell up and move.

 

Inevitably, every situation is different, but if circumstances allow, then I do think that making home improvements often offers the best solution. If you need more space but you love where you live, then an extension or loft conversion would make all the difference. Moving house is such a stressful and costly experience that if you can avoid it, then it’s probably for the best.

 

*This is a collaborative post.