To buy or to renovate

People who already own a home sometimes have difficulty deciding whether they should invest in their current home and renovate or buy something else. The decision is not an easy one and it all depends on what your plans are for your current home and future. If you plan on living in your current home forever than go ahead and invest. However, if there is a chance that you may outgrow your current home or you may want to downsize then probably buying another home would be the more practical approach. Here are the reasons why. Sometimes once you begin renovations surprises may occur and are not budgeted for. On top of everything materials are sky high and it is most difficult in some areas to find labour. If your home is an investment less than 10 years then the ratio of buy or renovate is askew. Again depending on the region you live in and your real estate market, most times you will not recover your expenses for renovations unless you've already owned your home for over ten years. There is a break even point and its up to you to figure that out. If of course you owned your home for ten years and haven't lifted a finger to do the upkeep and invest a little in some paint and a few changes and you decide to sell it...then good luck with that. Most, not all, buyers prefer new construction or a home that's 5 years or less and in a turn key condition. There's a couple of reasons for that. The younger generation, not all, have not learned to use tools. They have learned to go to school or play video games on their phone. Therefore, the younger generation rely on labour to do the work or renovations in their home which ends up to be very costly. So they decide that buying new means more money in their pocket over the long run. Not necessarily true. Its much better to buy a home that's between 2-4 years old. That way most everything is already done. The basement is finished, the flowers, trees and grass are planted, the blinds/curtains are up, the yard is fenced, the driveway is paved and so on. That's quite a savings. The moral of the story is do your homework and check your regional real estate market and see where you fit in. Ask your realtor(s)(get more than one opinion)what they suggest. Use common sense and you can't go wrong.