Signs It's Time To Move Up

Real Estate


Let's face it: It's probably time to move up. Lack of space is the No. 1 reason people start looking for a larger home. Families expand, lifestyles change, and the sheer accumulation of stuff can make a small home feel even tighter. "More than a third of all homebuyers last year were families with kids," said Dave Ramsey. "And 37% of sellers age 36 and under cited cramped quarters as their reason for moving." But running out of room is not the only reason to consider moving up.

1 - You've got the equity


2- You're at each other's throats


Ask yourself if "your quality of life is suffering," said Unpakt. "This category can include many things: your ever-growing pack of dogs or cats who are driving you crazy. Your cascading piles of fabrics that you use for quilting, but just can't keep organized in your current space. The lack of a guest room means that when family visits, you're stuck on the couch. Whatever it might be, if your quality of life has taken a nosedive because your house is too small, well, the answer is pretty clear." 

3 - The neighborhood is changing…and not for the better


4 - Remodeling is price prohibitive

A good real estate agent should be able to give you an idea of what necessary (or wanted) renovations would cost to your existing home. It could be that the amount of work you would need to do on your home to get it where you want it - or get it into tip-top shape for a sale - is beyond what you want to spend. In that case, it might make better financial sense to make small improvements, put it up for sale, and put your money into a new home that better suits your needs.

5 - You don't want to over-improve for the neighborhood

The other important factor to consider when deciding whether to move or improve your home is how the redone home would sit in your neighborhood. You don't want to run the risk of doing a bunch of expensive renovations only to have the home sit on the market because it's overdone and considered overpriced.

"Weighing against renovation is the risk you'll ‘over-improve' your home compared with others on the block," said Bankrate. "When you are in a neighborhood that has starter homes and smaller homes, adding a large addition or doing an extensive renovation may not yield the return one would expect."

6 - Everyone else has moved on

So, your kids were young and bicycles and basketball nets lined the street when you first fell in love with your home. At the time, it was everything you were looking for. But now, so many of those families have moved on, and the lively street you loved has turned rather sleepy. If you're still holding on to the memories of what your neighborhood once was, maybe it's time to find one that better meets your lifestyle needs today.

7 - You've crunched the numbers

Presumably, a move-up home is going to be more expensive. Beyond the equity you can use to make the purchase doable, you have to consider the monthly expenses, too. "It's not just the sticker price on the house; it's the long-term costs associated with it," said "When you go up (in square footage), you get higher property taxes, higher utilities, and more maintenance." And acquiring more rooms means shelling out for more furniture, too.

You can make sure you can afford a move-up home without becoming "house poor" by "using online affordability calculators to figure out how far you can stretch your dollar.