Make Your Home Bigger Without Upsizing

by Tim Richmond

Many people make their way through life transitions by utilizing the powers of the real estate market, whether it’s upsizing or downsizing. If children are growing up, people may move into a larger house. Contrastingly, when children move out, many parents aim to downsize.

While downsizing is difficult to do without reentering the market, upsizing is a transition that homeowners can carry out while avoiding the huge financial implications of selling and rebuying. Below are a couple simple ways that people can upsize their home without switching properties. Enlarging a home without flipping property can save thousands and thousands where precious finances are concerned.

Turn an office or loft into a bedroom

While creating an extra room will likely have to be approved by a city zoning and planning commission, it’s a viable option for upsizing a house. A caveat is that this decision will be expensive. Transforming a space into a bedroom takes time, finances and calculated planning. However, the resources required to add a bedroom are far less than moving to a new property. An additional bonus is that an extra bedroom can seriously boost resale value later down the road. It’s worth thinking about.

Minimize possessions

In America it’s no secret that we have too many material possessions. Within our properties is no exception. Oftentimes families that choose to upsize simply feel that they don’t have enough space. While that may be the case in a given situation, it may also just be that there are too many things within the space that they do have. This is an idea worth mentioning because many people across the nation have adequate space that just isn’t used efficiently. Getting rid of certain items can change the dynamic and overall feel of a property.

Selling and then buying a new house is a financial decision that has large consequences on a bank account. For one, the transaction will be dependent on an always-fluctuating market. Additionally, there are hidden costs involved with reentering the real estate market like new lending fees, moving costs and new property taxes. These are all things to think about if a house feels too small. There are ways to compromise on a decision by creating a new room or minimizing possessions, among many other ideas.

Tim Richmond writes about real estate and mortgage information. He specializes in HUD 184 home loans and other Native American lending issues.