I think this would be great for us but want to keep re-sale value in mind in case we do end up moving in the next few years…we want to stay here and think we have a plan for school district issues that will work for our family, but won’t be able to confirm for another two years. We were going to delay any remodeling until then but have decided we still want a bathroom that is better than “terrible” for the next two years even if we do decide to move.
Great advice! Hmmmm maybe we can plan Ikea trip soon. Luckily the software my family is using to design the space can do 3D projections really easily…it even reflects the background in the bathroom mirror
I haven’t looked into whether it’s only professional grade or if it’s consumer friendly. My family member has professional cad software that they use it with.
Some updates: the wall we were thinking of moving is indeed roof-bearing. It’s not the end of the world to move it but would increase the cost. With that information we decided to do some tours of our neighbors houses (a huge benefit of living in a townhouse complex lol).
Our first stop was to a neighbor who moved the (load-bearing) wall all the way flush with the soffit so the room decreased in size. I think it would work for us but it did feel a bit cramped with his king size bed.
Next weekend we are going to another neighbor’s house who changed the layout in a different way to see how it feels.
We also realized that my daughter’s room has a walk-in closet with one of our small footprint options (if we don’t move the load bearing wall) I moved all our clothes into it and it’s tight but not prohibitively small.
According to my contractor the most expensive things we are considering are: moving the toilet, moving the load bearing wall, moving the sink/shower plumbing. I think we’re going to try and get to a design that only does 1 or 2 of those instead of all three.
Has anyone ever had a porch deck replaced? I think remodeling our back porch is the next big project on our house list, and I’d like to have literally any concept of pricing before I start looking around.
It’s currently set up like this (apologies for the quickly made Visio diagram).
It’s an odd deck. The lighter blue parts are level with our house, and the darker blue ones are 1 step down, but still two or three (oddly I can’t remember) steps above the ground in the front, and ~ 6" above the brick patio on the left side. There’s a railing around the outside of the taller portion, with tall (8’?) posts in the corners, and a built in bench on the edge of the shorter side by the yard. The corners next to the house have both been angled for some reason, which makes the usable area even smaller.
Both levels are big enough for some things (we have a grill and smoker on the higher part, and our table is under the pergola), but not actually big enough to not be awkward, and the step between levels is a tripping hazard. It’s also east-facing, so it’s HOT and bright in the morning most of the year. Definitely too hot to sit out and drink coffee, or to read a book, or anything really.
I’d dearly love to have a deck that was one level with a roof of some sort on it, but I’m afraid it’s going to cost an actual zillion dollars.
I’m a bit late to this, but I don’t know how I’m going to pay for this renovation. I have a few options available to me but I don’t know what’s best and I have no spoons. Demo started yesterday so it’s not long before I have to actually decide. Quote was $167k for ballpark here. I’ve given them $8800 in cash so far.
-sell stocks from taxable
-401k loans (we can take $50k each - interest is 8.5% ish)
-HELOC
-home equity loan
It will almost certainly be mix of one of the above and cash (50-75k to put towards it) which we’ve been saving for some months, I just don’t know which way to go at the moment.
I would lean towards HELOC or home equity loan and just take whichever has a better rate since 401K loans scare me a bit (if your job is super secure then it shouldn’t be an issue but there are repayment rules if you separate from your employer.
Another option is a local credit union? Mine is showing personal loan rates from 8-9% depending on the length of time.
The jobs are about as secure as could be and we could pay it off pretty swiftly through stock sales if needed, but I see your point. I did check out the credit union loans but they weren’t great from what I could find.
what is the difference between a HELOC and Home equity loan? If I understand correctly, the reco is to use a HELOC, and then once you have the final number, roll it into a set home equity loan.
selling stocks from taxable, your capital gains will be taxed, so it will depend somewhat on your tax rate and what percentage of your taxable are gains.
From what I understand the HELOC is a large amount and you take only what you need, the home equity loan is the amount that you apply for and that’s the payback. The 8% interest is high but I technically only am paying that back to myself if I understand it right. I just lose gains, and a bit in fees.
we went to the appliance store with the designer and got a hard sell on Fisher & Paykel appliances (at least the stove and fridge). We will get quotes for a couple of different scenarios, and see where it goes from there.
I’ve also asked for a timeline & major steps because my project manager brain wants to make sure we don’t hit a point where they’re all ‘and now to person X’ and person X says ‘great, we’ll get you in the schedule, please assume 6 months wait time’
It is a very tough call. At our present status probably 3-5 years? But next year one kid (maybe both) will be in free school and out of care, and I will be moving into a higher paid position (maybe doubling my current income), and my sister will move in in March and start paying a nominal rent. So a lot will change.
personally I would sell stocks from taxable before I gave 8% on 401k money that would otherwise grow tax free. It might not be fully ideal from a tax planning perspective when you get to RMDs, but from a behavioural perspective it makes more sense to me.
This comment is a little above my head tbh I’ve read it a few times and still, I’m not quite there. The 8% is the money I repay into my own 401k right? So the only thing I lose is the fees and gains?
It might be that I don’t understand the 401k loan well enough because I’m thinking with how rules would be in Canada.
Ok, looking at it some more, and it’s like the old home buyers purchase plan in Canada, you take out the money and you have a certain amount of time to pay it back. So it is just taking away your compounding time, and you’re trying to make that up with the interest rate. Since you’re thinking up to 5 years, you wouldn’t want that as a heloc. And it isn’t a taxable gain.
A) What is the return on investment for your 401k? (I’m not sure if the actual historical ROI is better or using a rule of thumb 7% return is better for this)
B) The interest rate on the loan is 8%
The 8% of money paid to the bank for the privilege of borrowing money is greater than the expected 7% increase on your 401k, so the 401k loan is the better bet long term. This does not factor in any fees (I think the loan would have processing fees but I’m not sure, maybe that’s just a mortgage thing? and I have no idea if the 401k side of things would incur any processing/paperwork/whatever fees).
what is a reasonable contingency percentage for a main floor (700 sq ft) renovation including kitchen (no bathroom) for a 100 year old house? google is implying 10-30%
We have a Fisher & Paykel induction stove and 30” built-in fridge. I like them but they would have been really easy places to save money. My architect friends love their Samsung induction stove which is like 40% of the cost. They love it so much they’ve gotten both their parents to install it too, and they have a collective 15 years with it or something.
The fridge is super well designed. 30” width was really nice to have, and gave us the option of a 15" tall pantry. Great storage inside, and at 5’2” I can juuuust reach the top shelf without a stool. Installation has been a BEAST. It’s just a lot more finicky because you have to choose and drill holes, and get it flush in 3 different dimensions. The delivery company actually messed up 3x, our contractor didn’t feel comfortable doing the mounting, and so after 2 months I finally found and scheduled a separate company altogether to try to install properly (most won’t install if they didn’t sell it). I am now pro-counter-depth but lukewarm on built-in, just because I can’t in good conscience recommend the added cost & hassle. If people want it, then they really want it for looks and more power to them!
For a 100-year-old house I personally prefer to have as large a contingency as possible. That’s 100 years of possible bad renovation decisions that you could be unearthing.
the appliance person is very heavily pushing for this package, his argument being that if we were planning on staying in the house for 5 years the Samsung would be fine, but if we want 10+ years, Fisher & Paykel will be more reliable.
Which is a compelling argument for things that are built in - slide ins don’t need to be replaced with something that fits as exactly. Otoh, we don’t know what the current family of products will do, we just know previous runs.
Our first flat screen tv, we did so much research to find the best balance of cost and performance/durability, and then it turned out that the factory ran out of power boards that year, and so replaced them with a different board that happens to overheat and emit a high pitched whine after being on for about an hour. Of course, it didn’t start doing that until about month 15, so post cc warranty, and everyone who was purchasing during that period couldn’t know either, because the problems hadn’t started yet. And we only figured it out after a bunch more research on random forums.
ETA: and doing slide ins vs. built ins, is that an argument I want to have with ppl because of my uninformed understanding of resilience?
I’ve read it a few times and still, I’m not quite there. The 8% is the money I repay into my own 401k right? So the only thing I lose is the fees and gains?