Hi everyone, my wife and I (30&28) are closing on our first home in the PNW next week! We’re super excited but are in a bit of a disagreement so wanted your thoughts.
The house is 680K and we have agreed to a 170K down payment (25%).
The house is really amazing, but theres some things we wanted to refresh – add a shower to first floor half bath, close off the family room with french doors, refresh upstairs guest bathroom.
We have an extra 80K that we were gonna add to the downpayment, but we’re now thinking before we move in, to use that money to get the small remodels done.
Im my finance mind, this doesn’t really make sense, I’d rather put down all 250K as the down payment as I feel like the money is still “ours” and more tangible. If we use that 80K in the remodel, I feel like it’s being a bit wasted (quality of life would be a bit better but no gurantee it would increase our home value by 80k)…
How should I think about this? What would ya’ll do in this situation?
Remodel before moving in or bigger down payment – thoughts?
byu/Top-Travel7425 inRealEstate
Posted by Top-Travel7425
3 Comments
My two cents— your home is an investment only when you’re selling. Until then, it’s your home. You will/should absolutely keep updating your home based on what you want-like-need, and it begins before you move in.
We’re new home buyers as well, and I think one mistake many sellers make is to make renovations just before they sell, and think that will increase the value of the property. In reality, those renovations were due when the people were already living there, and are baked into the “fair market value” of the property. In renovating before selling, the sellers only deprived themselves from enjoying their own renovations.
I’d say, make a list of “blocking items” that make absolute sense to renovate before you move in. These are the items that are a pain to execute with people and their things living there. Do these before you move in, so that the house already feels like your home on your first day/night there. 🙂 all the other “smaller” items that are not “blocking the move” can be done over the next few weeks/months as you settle down.
Enjoy your new home! Make it yours! Worry about the investment when you want to sell! 🙂
I would just live in the house before committing to a renovation. Solidify your ideas and see what might work and won’t.
Really depends on how much the remodel will make you happy and what the rest of your budget looks like. If you’re just going by the numbers, yeah, extra money down puts you ahead.