With 25,000 homes for sale in the Twin Cities area the question of whether you should move or renovate your existing home should be a simple one to answer. Surely the perfect home exists! But if you are considering renovating your home and choose to buy instead, then you also have a home to sell. Congratulations! You have just joined the ranks of 25,000 other home owners who are also trying to sell their homes!
A reader recently asked if the not so big concept is just a preference or is it a real benefit to everyone who is planning to build a home. For those not familiar with this concept, it is described by author and architect Sarah Susanka in her book, The Not So Big House. “Not So Big doesn’t mean small. It means not as big as you thought you needed. But as a rule of thumb, a Not So Big House is approximately a third smaller than your original goal but about the same price as your original budget. The magic is that although the house is smaller in square footage, it actually feels much bigger.”
Given enough time and money you can build anything! But a wise man counts the cost before he embarks on any endeavor. So a better question might be, when and how do I determine the cost?
As a residential architect, people often ask what types of projects interest my clients as an indicator of the overall economy. With record number of home foreclosures and short sales, most assume any movement in the residential architecture business would be in the area of additions and renovations. However, that assumption has proven false. In a housing market that has been at its lowest in decades, interest in custom designed homes is out pacing that of additions and renovations.