If you have been paying attention to the Florida real estate market lately then you understand how hot it is. This may have you tempted to put your house on the market and see if you can upgrade. It could be that your dream house is not the one where you live and you may be better off moving.
Or, you could find that it is too expensive to buy what you are looking for and you can leverage the hot market to get an equity loan to fix up your house instead. The hot real estate market makes both options a possibility. It depends on how you look at things as to which scenario is better for you. In this article, we will go over both options so you can decide for yourself.
Buying a new home
Even though the market is responsible for houses selling at many times what they could get a few years ago, it means that if you sell you are going to be paying more to move to a new house as well. Before you can decide if buying new is your best option you will have to do some house hunting and think about your budget while you do so.
Get an estimate of what your house could sell for so you know what you can pay for the new home. Then, make a list of what you want the new house to have that your current house doesn’t. Those things could be the amenities the house has or the location where you prefer to live.
Start going to some open houses to see what is out there for your budget so you can see if your wishlist is realistic or if it is going to cost more than you imagined it would to buy the house of your dreams.
Renovating the current one
If you are happy with the location of your home and love your neighborhood just not your house then renovating is an option. The things that you find lacking could just be a matter of changing the house as it currently is to what you want it to be.
With the rising value of homes, you should be able to get a sizable loan to do pretty much whatever your dreams are as far as renovations go. Take some time to write down the things that you don’t like about your current house and then see what could be done to fix those problems. Once you have a list done you can contact a contractor to get an estimate of what it will take to renovate.
The biggest issue with renovations is the fact that you will have a major disruption for some time while you are living there. In fact, you may even need to rent out a short-term apartment if some of the renovations are particularly invasive. Think about if this is worth it for you and if you will still be happy to live there even after the work is done.
