Deciding to Upsize

Let’s say that a few years ago, you bought your first home. Perhaps you were thinking of it as a starter home, or maybe it was plenty of space for your needs at the time. But if those initial needs have changed, you may be in the position of needing a home with more space. If you don’t have the patience – or the funds – to renovate or add on to your existing house, you might be in the market for a new home to fit your changing lifestyle.

Here are a few reasons why Clients look to upsize:

Growing Family. Once upon a time, a growing family simply meant a baby on the way and more children in the household. But with an aging population and a sluggish economy in recent years, some families are seeing an older generation move in or a post-college child come back to the nest. This type of multi-generational growth may not only mean a need for more bedrooms. It can also demand more separate living space, such as an additional family room or media room area, or even a more self-contained area of the home, such as an in-law suite with a separate kitchen. And for families with frequent out-of-town guests like grown children and grandchildren, guest room space may be an important consideration.

Home Office. With the digitalization of so much of our communication and a desire to avoid lengthy, time-wasting commutes, it’s no small wonder that many professionals are opting to work from home at least part of the time. But working from home usually means a need for dedicated home office space with plenty of electrical capacity for charging laptops, smartphones, and other necessary tools of the trade. In a smaller, older home, these needs can be hard to meet.

More Storage. Sure, the kids may be growing up and moving off to college, but that may mean a need to store a lot of their belongings until they get settled. And let’s face it, through the years, we just accumulate a lot of stuff that needs to go somewhere. If a current home lacks a basement or an attic suitable for storage, closets can fill up quickly and increased storage capacity might become a necessity.

Change in Income. When young families are just starting out, they may not have a lot of extra money to throw around. But as an employee advances at work or changes to a higher-income job, it might be the time to look at a change in spending – and this might mean the larger house that a family has dreamed of.

Modernization. Starter homes can often be older. Smaller homes were the norm in the past, and only in recent decades has there been a surge in square footage. This could mean that a starter home requires more maintenance than a newer, larger, and more energy-efficient house. Families looking to avoid the burden of constant upkeep may be in the market for something newer – which often means larger.

Every family has its own unique needs, and different lifestyles demand different requirements for home space. If you’re in the market to upsize your home, talk to your real estate agent about the type of house that truly meets your changing needs.