# Older house updating & expanding it?



## Picture_Shooter (Dec 23, 2007)

Hey guys,
I come to ask if anyone here owns an older home and done any expanding to the sq ft of your homes?
Recently my dad passed and low be hold, my mother really has nothing to collect as all she get is his Social-Security. The military retirement goes away and all my mother has in their 1982 home.

With that being said, my mother (which is elder and cannot work) has asked if we could break our current rent-lease and move in with her and make sure that her home will not go in default, BUT also to be closer to her as she is very lonely by herself and she actually lives about 20 miles away from us. 

Getting a little personal, all the SS pays for is the mortgage. She has money saved, but soon I am sure it'll run out. 
I do honestly want to help her all that I can. Also to know that her home is very close of being paid off.

The town where she lives and my commute to work everyday is the same distance from where I am at now, so no harm done there. :T

My only concern is the size of her home for our family to move in with her.
The house is only a 3bd, 1 living room and 2 bath home along with a 2-car garage. The total square foot per cad is little over 1330 sq ft (interior). This is for a total of 5-people living in it (3 adults and 2-children).

The property lot size is the GEM here. It is not your typical 50'x120' lot. This lot is 3 times that, wooded and corner lot (give and take 1/2 acre). Has no neighbors behind and it's a very, very quite neighborhood. 

There is a good amount of equity that can be borrowed to update / upgrade the home to give more space.
With all this being said, I was wondering whom all here has done, complete, upgraded to expand your home living space?

Assuming that I go forward with this idea, I would have to build going towards the back of this house as I would like to add another Master-Bedroom, master bath, extend the kitchen and add a dedicated theater room.

This is a one-story home and I have never done or attempted to do something like this. As for adding new sq ft and pouring of the foundation. I would love to add an additional 1200 sq ft og living space to it going towards to back of the home as the front and sides of the home is 3-sided brick and the back is hardy plank siding, which would be much easier to work with.

*Remember this is a 1982 home and nothing has be up to date (yea, my parents are old fashion, lol). 

Both wife and I are really up to date style folks and love a more modern to date interior styling. As I love the look of this home / ranch style (in the front). I do not want to mess with the front side or expanding it that way.

So my question is, any idea what something like this would cost if we got a contractor to proceed forward with our planned goal if we were to move in w/ mom's? 

Should I get with a local architect and have them go over the original home floor plan to see what could be done? 
As you see, I have no idea what the steps of doing something like this:unbelievable::doh:
Thanks for any input as I have no idea where to start  

Thanks


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## Picture_Shooter (Dec 23, 2007)

Sorry for the bad topo picture, but here is the lot size:


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

1982 isn't exactly like living in a home from the 1920's 

Probably the easiest and least permanent thing to do is to convert the garage into another bedroom (or 2 depending on the size. A little insulation and a wall over the door, tie in the HVAC, and it's ready to go. If/when you move out at some future point, it's easy enough to put back to a garage if you want.

Before I would do anything, I would look into the finances of the home (amount owed, equity, etc. - 'a lot of equity' doesn't really give you anything concrete). I would also want to have a serious discussion and agreement between you, your wife, and your mother and get down in writing exactly what's going on from a legal standpoint. I know that seems silly with family but it's very important.


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## MatrixDweller (Jul 24, 2007)

Renovating and adding space to an existing home is, generally, much more expensive than selling and buying a home with the features you're looking for already included. Unless the home has great sentimental value or the addition is small or you would be doing most of the work or getting a large discount, it's not practical in most cases. If the location is perfect and has cheap property taxes that could be an incentive.

I had a relative that inherited her grandfather’s small house on a half-acre lot and thought about doing the same thing as you. It was a small two storey house and they wanted to add an additional room on the back with a bathroom and full basement connected to the existing basement. It was going to cost upwards of $100,000 for the plans, engineering, permits and to do the construction.

The price can vary from contractor to contractor and it depends on what exactly needs to be done. Ultimately you would just have to get some quotes. 

There are a few questions and a few factors that will end up costing a lot.

- Will the city/town allow it? You'll have to contact them and submit plans and get permits for everything. If you don't they could ask you to remove it at your expense.

- Will the addition have a full basement connected to your existing one or just a crawlspace? Full basement will be quite expensive.

- Is the house on city water/sewage or is there a septic bed in the backyard? If there is a septic bed I'd say forget about it. The costs will go through the roof.

- How big are the existing furnace and air conditioner and can they handle the extra added space? Also how old are they? Most likely they are too small so either an additional unit(s) are required or replacing the existing one with something bigger. If it's older it may need to be replaced anyway. HVAC alone could add $4-10K to the price all said and done.

- Do you want the addition to match exactly with the original structure? Getting the same brick and all can get costly.

- How is the rest of the house maintenance wise? Do the windows need replacing, roof, driveway, flooring, etc?

- You'll have to deal with contractors or hire a foreman to get things done. Some people find that a bad experience. Some also get taken advantage of, or ripped off.

Best bet is to get some quotes. It might cost you a little to have an architect draw up some blueprints. An engineer would also have to OK the plans for a foundation, analyze your existing soil conditions, and approve any modifications to the existing structure before the city would approve them.


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## Tonto (Jun 30, 2007)

Remodeled my house 5 years ago, lived in it during the refit. Boy will we never do that again. While we love the redo, looking back it would have been better to build a new house, selling this one. This is no market to sell, but then again it's a great market to buy. Contractors are giving great deals now & an architect can sit down & design the perfect layout for you (you'll get that anyway). You will be able to pre-wire the whole house for the technology available today.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Personally given the location and size of the lot I would expand on what you have. My personal thoughts are that you should not chew up too much of the land with building out but rather build out and up. But like Tonto said living in a construction zone is a huge pain. unless you do the addition first without touch the rest of the house.


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## Picture_Shooter (Dec 23, 2007)

Many thanks to all for your thoughts, ideas and concerns.

As I went on ahead and decided that we'll just have an Estate sale on her items at the house and try to sell or lease the house instead. As much as I think of it, I really want to stay in the town I reside at.

I did learn a few things and thats is to purchase a home w/ all our needs (style / size).
I am really not a yard man or love having huge lot / property as the more I have, the more water and cutting I have to do. 

Again, thank you greatly!!


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## sga2 (Nov 14, 2009)

I'm very sorry to hear about your dad's passing. I hope you, your mom, and the rest of the family is doing well.

Renovation work is always tricky. You're probably looking at anywhere from $80-120/sf for the addition (depending on local conditions, fit/finish, and how aggressive the contractors are pricing projects) but there will be additional costs associated with the existing structure like upgrading the electrical, probably some roofing work, etc. The real difficulty is getting a GUARANTEED HARD PRICE. In fairness to the contractor, it is nearly impossible to uncover all of the potential challenges they'll face on a project at this stage especially when they are competing to keep their proces low. But you don't want to be facing change orders every week that could add up to 50% or more of the total cost. 

You need to talk with banks about loans, too. Construction loans have been tough to get over the last few years though that has been easing up a little. The big problem we see here with residential construction is that it is hard to secure financing because loan-to-value ratios are out of whack due to depressed home values. If your mom has enough equity in the existing home, you might be in fair shape. But you need to get the house appraised by the bank to see where you really stand.

And then there are the contractors... Unfortunately, there are a lot of bad ones out there. If you find someone that has been in business for 10 years or more and has weathered the current financial mess, that's a good start. But everyone has had to cut costs (read: corners) to stay afloat so it is a gamble. Be sure they are licensed, have plenty of history (check their previous work, especially what they've done in the last 2-3 years), good references, and see if anyone has registered complaints with BBB and the various trade organizations (NARI, NAHB, etc.). 

Finally, after you've picked a contractor, find a construction lawyer to review your contract before you sign anything. $500-750 well spent.

Good luck!

Regards,
sga2


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## sga2 (Nov 14, 2009)

Oh, and be patient. This process is going to take some time. Figure 6 months just to get started and another 6-9 months for construction. No need to rush.

Regards,
sga2


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## Picture_Shooter (Dec 23, 2007)

sga2 said:


> Oh, and be patient. This process is going to take some time. Figure 6 months just to get started and another 6-9 months for construction. No need to rush.
> 
> Regards,
> sga2


That right there is a 'deal breaker' for me  . I am not willing to wait that long  

As if I was the build a new home, it will be only 4-6 months and get all the new updated and energy approved buildup. 

One thing I didnt think of was the old AC unit, which works great for 1300sq ft, but then the add more sq ft and will probably need a new bigger AC unit and I know that is not cheap.


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## Tonto (Jun 30, 2007)

Big AC rebates from the government + big discounts from the local sellers going on now. If your moms system is old, the energy savings would be significant. If your really expecting < 6 months, I don't think that is realistic. Just getting the architectural design & permitting may take that long...and thats before construction even begins. I find contractors usually give an early completion time frame. Contractors typically begin a new job as the old one is completing. Getting them back for final fixes is time consuming as well. Don't forget that adding on to existing pluming, electrical & structure is likely not as good as new construction, the inspectors will pass things that will not work properly. I'm having to redo a roof line now that roofers tell me should have never passed inspection.


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## Picture_Shooter (Dec 23, 2007)

Having someone come out this Friday to see what my options are:bigsmile:


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