Hellobee Boards

I reno'd my current house...we were SO SO SO lucky from the horror stories I've heard. Had we not gotten lucky every time we opened a wall, or changed our plans we couldve been broke easily.

If you can find a good lot and a builder you trust I think its a better way to go! Though I know you are local and my boss is having quite an issue with one of our local main stream builders....so maybe even the big builders have issues?

We love our older house and have so many projects we wish we could do (we'll get there eventually!) I definitely vote for a reno - I just think breathing new life into an old place is so inspiring.

For me it would all come down to the neighborhood that these opportunities were in.

Build. My parents renovated 3 times and every single time, it was a nightmare, cost way more than they were quoted, and the guys packed up leaving tons of work undone.

We will probably never get the chance to build though, and like 99% of homes around here are old, so my best chance is to find a home that someone else has reno-ed.

reno because i like an established neighborhood!

@WinterBee: hang in there! We're almost four years in and there's still tons to do. But, we are finally starting to see our vision come together. It's completely ours. We're not selecting from some contractor predetermined palette. We don't know a single person that hasn't completely loved all the renovated spaces we've worked on. Or the ones that hate it don't say anything.

We find ourselves drawn to established neighborhoods, and they also usually have better lots, so I would vote reno. Unless you could get an amazing neighborhood and do everything you wanted, then build.

I chose reno because generally new construction is built in less than desirable areas (at least in my state). I prefer established neighborhoods as well. I have seen people buy older homes inside of neighborhoods and tear them down to build completely new. While you get exactly what you want (brand new house, perfect location), it can stand out and be really out of place compared to your neighbors.

We just bought a gutted/added-on reno. We didn't want to be out in the 'burbs for sure, which is where most of the totally new build neighborhoods are (that I am not a fan of typically). So our options in the walkable/urban neighborhoods were either what we got or a tear-down/new build. I didn't want to deal with a lot of the reno myself, so we did look at a lot of new builds...but...a lot of them are big houses built on the original small lots, and just feel so...sterile/cookie cutter? Like after we had seen 3 or 4 of them, I felt like we were just seeing basically the same house over and over! The one we bought preserved a lot of the old 1940s charm but new finishes/windows/etc. we love it!

All things being equal, I would renovate an older home. I love the feel of an older home and much prefer established neighborhoods over new developments.

When we first moved in, we chose an old home that had great bones and clean home inspection report but could use some TLC. I can't say it was a fixer upper because we didn't come in with a budget to fix it up. We have done a few things each year to improve it though. We didn't want to live in cookie cutter or have HOA dues, or pay to build our yard with grass, landscaping etc.

Close friends of ours soon bought cookie cutter/new development just a few blocks away and we were like, They are crazy. That's so expensive and too big.

Fast forward 7 years...their property value went up quicker as a new build. They spent a ton on their yard. But I tell you, their house is beautiful and ours is sort of, well, old. I think they will have it better down the line when ours will need repairs right around retirement age. Every time we even mention moving, LO is like, "NO, I love it here. This is my home." So it would take us a lot to move. I do love the small size of our home and that doesn't bother us at all. Also mortgage, utilities, neighbors are just right so I'm happy with that.

@chopsuey: We did the same thing. It was a lot of work, but we have exactly what we want. Well, except for things that I wish I would have changed or chosen differently now looking back. I'm also ready to repaint some rooms! lol It's hard choosing paint colors for the whole house at one time!

Build from scratch. I live in an old house (it's only 50 years old) but it can't be renovated without basically knocking it down and starting over.

@NorthStar: hahah same! Picking interior/exterior/cabinet colors was the most stressful for me!

We live in a 100 year old home and have put the equivalent of 30% of the purchase price into renovations. It's gorgeous and historic but the rooms are very seperate and there are a lot of features lacking/impossible to convert (specifically a great room and a laundry room). I hope to eventually build a home. There is a lot in our favorite town in an established neighborhood of custom homes we have had our eye on. They pop loose occasionally.

We did reno an 150 year old house. We did all the work ourselves (reframed a lot of the interior, built and addition, all new plumbing, electrical, HVAC, etc) and it SUCKED but we have a beautiful house we are very proud of. I will tell you that a reno will likely be more work than a new build but an old house also has so much character that you just don't find anymore. I'd do a reno with the knowledge that it's going to suck but be worth it in the end.

It depends. If you're only renovating and not building out or up, i would go with the renovation.

Otherwise, i would rather buy a tear down in a developed neighbourhood, demolish the house and build from scratch.

I think all the cool home Reno shows on hgtv have kind of given us all an unrealistic expectation of what a home Reno really involves and costs. We just had a small addition put on the back of our house and it cost $100k and took 6 months. Our builder lost money on it so we did not overpay. I can tell you that even with both of us working full time outside the home and the addition being in an unused section of the house it was a horrific pain to have contractors here for 6 straight months. I'm happy with the results but if we ever move the house cannot require major reno's. It's just about being able to get in and out of the driveway without shuffling cars around and maintaining privacy. Oh and it always costs way more than you think, so I wouldn't even say it's cheaper to buy an old house and fix it up.

Wanted to add, while I voted reno...and mentioned that we did just buy a reno....it was a house that a builder/architect group had basically bought & reno'd themselves to flip. So while I got most of the benefits of a reno (older established neighborhood, totally gutted & redone interior/roof/mechanicals, etc), I didn't actually have to live in it during the reno Since we really liked all/most of the finishes they chose, it worked out really well for us -- a move-in ready reno w/ new construction warranties

@regberadaisy: so cool!