What Would You Do?

[fairfarmhand]

29 minutes ago, Condessa said:

It looks like there are three houses in the other town that are for sale, the right size, and in a price range we would consider.  Or rather two, as the third, nicest one is 8.5 miles outside town.  A much shorter drive, but a point against it when a purpose of moving would be to be in close to the town.  The other two are not appealing for different reasons (nice manufactured home with near, sketchy-looking neighbors, or close, dark feeling rooms with small windows).  The one in the country is a cute, old but well kept-up farmhouse.  Its negatives would be distance and that it doesn’t have central air conditioning.  We could plan on adding it, but I know sometimes that’s difficult in houses that old because they weren’t designed with spaces in the walls and ceilings for ducts.

Maybe I could just give myself permission to contract out more of the work than I normally would, to make the garage conversion less overwhelming.  It would raise the cost of the project considerably, but not nearly as much as a move.  

So for our conversion, we did some of the work ourselves.  But hired out some of it.

We paid someone to put in the windows and trim. The drywall was already done. The electrical was adequate. (still there aren't tons of outlets, but we make do.)  

We paid someone to do floors, We did the painting. But I think if you do floors and painting, it wouldn't be horrible. In fact, it wouldn't be a bad idea for your older kids to learn this. 

Is there already heating and cooling in that space? 

[Drama Llama]

If you bought the house that's 8 miles away, would you be living in the school district?  So, there would likely be other kids in your area and carpooling would be an option?  Also, would there be things like late buses or a safe bike route? 

[Condessa]

2 hours ago, DawnM said:

Run a side by side tally of expenses.   With realtor fees, moving, storage fees, higher house cost, higher interest rates, etc.....what would that look like?   VS;   building on to your existing home.   We were quoted $180/sq. ft for an addition with no foundation or anything already there.   Yours would most likely be less if you are adding on to an area that is already there.   

Another question:   Could you half the room that is already there?   Make a 10x15 into 7.5x10 and 7.5x10 type of thing?   We looked at a house recently where they did this, not for a bedroom, but they took the formal dining room and added a wall down the middle.   One side could access from the kitchen and they made it into a huge pantry and the other side into an office space that could be accessed from the hallway.    Another friend did this in her house to allow her boys their own space.   Their rooms were very small but had room for a single bed, a nightstand, and a dresser.

Maybe about $30k to $35k in selling/buying and moving expenses, and it looks like it would double our monthly mortgage payment.

Online estimates for a garage conversion seem to vary wildly, anywhere from $5k to $70k.  I don’t have an accurate estimate on that yet.  Bringing water in is supposed to be a large expense, though, and we already have water lines to the garage because our laundry is out there.  I went out and took measurements of the garage this morning so I can plan out just what we would want to do and price it out.

 I don’t think that dividing the existing bedrooms would work with the size and window placement.  We would wind up with very tiny rooms and have to move windows.  Except maybe the master could be divided into two small rooms, but one would not reach the hallway.  You would have to walk through one room to get to the other.  I would rather convert the garage and wind up with more space overall if we are dealing with a construction project anyways.
 

[Condessa]

2 hours ago, fairfarmhand said:

So for our conversion, we did some of the work ourselves.  But hired out some of it.

We paid someone to put in the windows and trim. The drywall was already done. The electrical was adequate. (still there aren't tons of outlets, but we make do.)  

We paid someone to do floors, We did the painting. But I think if you do floors and painting, it wouldn't be horrible. In fact, it wouldn't be a bad idea for your older kids to learn this. 

Is there already heating and cooling in that space? 

There’s not really heating and cooling out there.  Baseboard heat in the laundry room, but we would be bringing the central air out there.

[Condessa]

2 hours ago, Drama Llama said:

If you bought the house that's 8 miles away, would you be living in the school district?  So, there would likely be other kids in your area and carpooling would be an option?  Also, would there be things like late buses or a safe bike route? 

We would be in the school district.  Not many houses around, but a few, so I don’t know about carpooling.  There’s no late bus, but there would be a safe bike route.

[fairfarmhand]

56 minutes ago, Condessa said:

There’s not really heating and cooling out there.  Baseboard heat in the laundry room, but we would be bringing the central air out there.

Yeah, that's worth paying someone to do. 

[QueenCat]

1 hour ago, Condessa said:

Except maybe the master could be divided into two small rooms, but one would not reach the hallway.  You would have to walk through one room to get to the other.  I would rather convert the garage and wind up with more space overall if we are dealing with a construction project anyways.
 

Dividing the master would make it very difficult for  you to ever sell the house.

[fairfarmhand]

1 hour ago, Condessa said:

Maybe about $30k to $35k in selling/buying and moving expenses, and it looks like it would double our monthly mortgage payment.

Online estimates for a garage conversion seem to vary wildly, anywhere from $5k to $70k.  I don’t have an accurate estimate on that yet.  Bringing water in is supposed to be a large expense, though, and we already have water lines to the garage because our laundry is out there.  I went out and took measurements of the garage this morning so I can plan out just what we would want to do and price it out.

 I don’t think that dividing the existing bedrooms would work with the size and window placement.  We would wind up with very tiny rooms and have to move windows.  Except maybe the master could be divided into two small rooms, but one would not reach the hallway.  You would have to walk through one room to get to the other.  I would rather convert the garage and wind up with more space overall if we are dealing with a construction project anyways.
 

Are you thinking an extra bathroom out there? 

Because yeah, extra baths do get expensive. Ours was just living space.

[Condessa]

8 hours ago, fairfarmhand said:

Are you thinking an extra bathroom out there? 

Because yeah, extra baths do get expensive. Ours was just living space.

Yes, dh wants to put in another bathroom if we do the conversion.

[DawnM]

13 hours ago, Condessa said:

Maybe about $30k to $35k in selling/buying and moving expenses, and it looks like it would double our monthly mortgage payment.

Online estimates for a garage conversion seem to vary wildly, anywhere from $5k to $70k.  I don’t have an accurate estimate on that yet.  Bringing water in is supposed to be a large expense, though, and we already have water lines to the garage because our laundry is out there.  I went out and took measurements of the garage this morning so I can plan out just what we would want to do and price it out.

 I don’t think that dividing the existing bedrooms would work with the size and window placement.  We would wind up with very tiny rooms and have to move windows.  Except maybe the master could be divided into two small rooms, but one would not reach the hallway.  You would have to walk through one room to get to the other.  I would rather convert the garage and wind up with more space overall if we are dealing with a construction project anyways.
 

I agree, although a wall would be much cheaper, that was my thought when I mentioned it.   

I am not even sure you can get materials for $5k right now for a garage conversion!   The prices for materials are so dang high!

[BusyMom5]

If you turn the carport into a master with bath and a huge walk-in closet you can put both babies in the closet for several years.  It will also be good for resale value because a lot of people want a huge master closet 😉  The old master can be separated with room dividers, not a wall, but still private space for each kid.  There are lots of ways to do this- bookcases, partial wall, pretty hinged pannels.

[Condessa]

Dh and I talked it over and we are definitely leaning toward the garage conversion.  I drew up a plan and showed him.  He mostly really liked it, mentioned a few ideas that I made some adjustments for.  (Mostly he wanted more doors.  And thought that I would like it better if we hid one access door in a closet, since it’s placement would have made a room less symmetrical and he knows I tend to like things symmetrical.)  It would add almost 600 sq ft to the house, from a 1700 sq ft 3 bedroom 1.5 bath to 2300 sq ft 4  bedroom 2.5 bath.  Or maybe 5 bedroom, as I drew in a smaller room next to the new master that would make a great baby nursery or exercise room or office, and I might include a small closet so it can be counted as a bedroom for resale value. 
 

My dad suggested placing the storage shed against the side of the house for ease of building (just 3 walls) and of having electricity for light, so I drew it in there.  I had the idea to reuse one of the two garage doors on the shed in case someone wanted to store something very large in it in the future (we don’t have a riding lawnmower, but many people in our neighborhood do).  And then I looked at what I had drawn and realized it was basically a one-car garage.  So if we go with this plan, we will still have an attached garage, but much smaller.  We will just use it for storage though.

 I think next step is to get some estimates.

Edited September 27, 2023 by Condessa

[ktgrok]

On 9/24/2023 at 3:56 PM, Jaybee said:

I see why people are choosing D. But my first reaction is A. Because over time, all of your kids will benefit in being close to the school they will be attending as far as friendships, extra curriculars, and time saved in commutes. You can all participate more in the community life that tends to center around school life if you are on-site. It sounds like your kids would really enjoy that.

 

All this. As they get older they really do need to be able to get to friend's houses easily and you are likely not going to want to do that drive. Also, it could be an issue as far as other kids coming to your house - both the drive and the availability of private space. 

On 9/24/2023 at 5:15 PM, fairfarmhand said:

I found this true as well wrt to sibling dynamics. I also was a wee bit judgmental about making things work and making kids get along etc. i found they got along so much better with more space. I have kids with intense personalities. Other kids seem to do just fine with minor bickering and mine probably could have done so if there was no other choice. But our lives were all immeasurably improved by the extra space. 

Yup, sibling relationships improved here with more space. But also, kids with neuodiversity...may be less of an issue otherwise. 

 

[lmrich]

 

Just FYI... for a DIY

I converted 1/2 our  garage into a homeschool space for  very little money. I used the other 1/2 for storage. We hired someone to put up  a wall. We put in the installation and wall board - including a giant white board all (it was awesome). For the floor I  used a vapor barrier and then a layer of foam pads like you use for a home  gym. Then topped it with  carpet. It had a space heater  in the winter and a portable air conditioner in the summer.  I  think this  was less  than  $3000 and bonus  for  you  - you wouldn't  have to go up and down to the basement with  a  baby to  homeschool.  

Could you  then make the  basement into a bedroom and  living  space? 

And  by the way- check your  building codes for bedrooms - we learned for  a bedroom to be a 'bedroom' for  safety  purpose it has to  have two exits; usually a window  or  a door,  but  it could  be  two  doors.