Upsizing Your Home
Unfortunately our homes don’t always grow with us. What may have initially worked fine for a single person, a young couple’s starter home, or a family with a newborn can quickly become too small as families expand and multiple generations live under one roof.
Remodeling and adding to your home is one option for creating more space, but it can be costly, and the size of your property may be prohibitive. That’s when moving to a bigger home becomes the best solution.
WHERE DO YOU NEED MORE SPACE?
The first thought when upsizing your home is to simply consider square footage, bedrooms, and bathrooms. But it’s important to take a more critical approach to how your space will actually be used. If you have younger children (or possibly more on the way), then focusing on bedrooms and bathrooms makes sense. But if your children are closer to heading off to college or starting their own families, it may be better to prioritize group spaces like the kitchen, dining room, living room, and outdoor space—it’ll pay off during the holidays or summer vacations, when everyone is coming to visit for big gatherings.
MOVING OUTWARD
If you need more space, but don’t necessarily want a more expensive home, you can probably get a lot more house for your money if you move a little further from a city center. While the walkability and short commutes of a dense neighborhood or condo are hard to leave beyond, your lifestyle—and preferences for hosting Thanksgiving, barbecues, and birthdays—might mean that a spacious home in the suburbs makes the most sense. It’s your best option for upsizing while avoiding a heftier price tag.
*About Windermere Homes & Estates*
Windermere Homes & Estates has always focused on three basic principles: hire the best people, give them the best tools, create thriving communities. Collaboration not competition and building relationships with agents, clients and community partners has helped Windermere Homes & Estates become one of the top 5 brokerages in California. Backed by Windermere Real Estate, the largest regional real estate company in the Western U.S., including over 300 offices and 6,500 agents serving communities in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Mexico. Last year, Windermere closed 87,000 home sales for more than $36.7 billion in dollar volume.
Windermere Homes & Estates donates a portion of the proceeds from every home purchased or sold to the Windermere Foundation, which supports low-income and homeless families in the community. What started in 1989 as a grassroots foundation serving families in need in Washington state has grown to encompass eleven states and has raised over $38 million for programs and organizations that provide shelter, clothing, children’s programs, emergency assistance and other services to those who need our help the most.
Windermere Homes & Estates was founded by Rich Johnson in 2013 and has been setting the standard ever since. The forward-thinking company has opened 17 offices and hired more than 500 agents with awards such as the Brokerage Achievement of Excellence and the Standards of Ethics, awarded by the San Diego Association of Realtors® (SDAR). Creating a “3rd place” for agents to collaborate and connect on a daily basis both virtually and in person has been a key factor in Windermere Homes & Estates’ success.