Great Debates: Is It Time to Move?

When people buy a home, it’s generally so they have a place to live long term. A place to raise a family and set down roots in a community. You eventually gain equity, and then the magic day comes, when the home that you’ve been paying on for 20 to 30 years finally becomes your own.

Sometimes things don’t go that smoothly. The home that may have been the perfect little love nest five years ago may have become your waking nightmare. It’s then that you have a to make the difficult choice to make some changes to the home or to go out and find a new new.

1. It’s too small. I remember when we first moved into our current home. It seemed so large compared to our little two-bedroom duplex. It was just my wife and I, and we thought the house would be perfect to raise a child in, and it was. It’s when we added the other two kids to the mix that suddenly our spacious bungalow seems cramped. When you outgrow your home, there is only one of two things you can really do: add on or move on. Adding on can be an expensive choice, and it will take time. You also need to worry about the city’t to mention the permits and a good contractor. If you can’t make the room, then you need to find something new.

2. Repair issues. One of my favorite things about renting was that if anything ever went wrong, it wasn’t coming out of my pocket. If the water heater broke, then call the landlord. If the roof leaked, then call the landlord. When you own your home, you aren’t that lucky. When the roof leaks, you need to get it fixed, or else it rots and gets worse. Older homes are particularly prone to this. The wiring goes bad. The foundation cracks. It can be a never-ending cycle of repair after repair after repair. You have to make the decision of what’s more important to you. The house you have made a home or the piece of mind that a quarter of your retirement will be spent repairing your home.

3. It’s too big. This is an issue my parents discovered after all us kids left home. You go from a family of five to only two, and suddenly you have all these extra rooms and more space. You’re older, and all that extra cleaning is a pain, not to mention hard on your back. There is no way to make a house smaller. You can’t just take a wrecking ball to half your home. My parents did the only reasonable thing they could. They moved to a smaller home and have been happy ever since. My dad didn’t have to worry about wood for the furnace or getting snowed in during the winter.

The decision to move isn’t an easy one, especially if it is to a new town. It’s a major change and one that should not be taken lightly. But sometimes, it just so happens that it’s the right thing to do. What do you think? Should you always fight for your home, or should you be open to change?

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