Need More space

Finding your current home a little cramped is a common reason to look for a new home with more space.

Explore Your Options for More Space

If you love your home, you might first explore several other options to get more space. You may decide to pursue a bare minimal lifestyle – it’s incredible what you can cook in one pan!
If you’re more adventurous, you might be sitting in your living room right now asking yourself, “Is that a load-bearing wall?” Followed with the thought, “I don’t think it is… I think we can tear that right out!” Perhaps a storage unit or two is suitable for you.  Or like some who have a shipping container that appears to be a permanent structure in their front yard.

I think we can appreciate people’s efforts to maximize a smaller home to get more space in the short term. But there comes a time, hopefully before the permanent shipping container, that you recognize moving into a larger home can be liberating. The ability to spread out, the opportunity (and cost savings) of not maintaining storage units, and the utility of having unencumbered access to your clothing, tools, and other hidden treasures in closets, garages, and storage units are exciting.

Before You Do Anything Else

Before you knock down a wall or go on your house search, take a moment to look at your living condition and household possessions. Ask yourself if perhaps you’ve just collected too much stuff. Do you really need a snow globe out year-round? Does your ceramic clown collection need an entire room? Is emperor-sized furniture essential for people as tall as Tom Cruise? Believe it or not, sometimes, a real purge and reassessment of your furniture choices can give you back a ton more space. But then there are a lot of times when nothing but adding actual square footage will do.

First Things First

Meet with me. I’ll help you discover what your home is actually worth versus an inaccurate automated valuation report. While an automatic valuation report is sometimes fun to review, they’re faulty. Meeting with me will give you an accurate understanding of the resale value of your home. I will also provide you with a list of suggestions to maximize that value and minimize the time on the market. Knowing these two items will help tremendously in your planning.

The What, Where, and Why

It would help if you listed what you want in a home, where you want to live, and why you want these things—understanding why these items are on your list is essential. This list will help you find what type of home you’re looking for precisely and prevent you from simply having a home with overwhelming wins in one category but fails to deliver on your other objectives – like more space.

Sharing an overview of this list with me would be especially helpful as I often have access to tools and information that is not well known. It’s also important to share feedback with me on the homes you like versus items you do not want to ensure I help you find the right home.

Sell First – Buy Second

You’ll want to sell your present home before buying another home in most circumstances. In many cases, this is absolutely necessary before your new home will even get funded, impacting your ability to close on your new home. You should also know that houses fall out of escrow for various reasons – don’t count your home sold until escrow closes. I can help you manage the details of this juggling act where many stakeholders are present, and dropping the ball on any of these details could derail the entire process – both the selling and buying strategies.