Dear Alice | Buy, Build or Remodel

This week’s episode is about how to figure out if buying, building or remodeling is right for you! There’s many paths to take when you’re deciding on your dream home and the “right” path completely depends on who you are as a person and what your family is prepared for. This week’s episode can be found on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or Google Podcast.

If you’re not good at making decisions, don’t like that people have lived their previously, or need the quickest and cheapest option- you’re probably already have a feeling of what is best for you.

You are good candidate for a remodel if you like an old home and charming neighborhood. Just because it’s not new doesn’t mean it’s cheap because you don’t know what’s going on behind walls and with plumbing so you’ll need a fluid budget for wild things to happen. If you’re thinking about remodeling out an area of an home, consider tearing it out and building because it might be cheaper over time. A good and bad thing is that it can go on forever because there’s always room for improvement so if you love to renovate, it may never end. They’re wonderful because there’s room to dream about how to give it new life and because you can live with it while you’re chipping away at it.

A new build is good for someone who knows what they want and have the vision- if you’ve done the prep work and already know what you want, the less stressful it’ll be. It can take over your life so if you need help, hire your designer- don’t ask your friends. We like to get started on design details 6 months before breaking ground. There’s a lot of city fees so know your limit and make sure your architect knows that so they respect it and you have money for landscaping and random expenses. Strangely, appliances are months out right now so buy them as soon as you break ground so you hopefully won’t have to live without them. It’s very helpful to live in a rental home beforehand to know what you want when you build- new homes are such a big responsibility because a well built home can be around for hundreds of years so make sure to do right by them.

If you don’t love waiting or makes decisions- buy a finished home so you are ready to move in from the get go while slowly swapping out pieces that feel like yours. Building and designing are not the same thing so you can just buy a walk in ready home and get it styled by an interior designer.

You know yourself best so be honest with yourself and follow your heart. Any questions or podcast ideas? Email us at dearalice@alicelanehome.com