If you really think about it, what is your Virginia Beach house worth now? And we mean the real worth of the house – the cost of upkeep vs. the benefits from owning/living in this house. If you don’t have the answer, don’t fret. We’ll help you with some tips below. The idea is to figure out if your aging home is more trouble now than what it takes to maintain and upkeep it. Sure, there are a number of upsides to home ownership, bit sometimes, things change as we age and if we did not keep up with all the necessary repairs and updates, at one point the home may actually become a burden rather than an asset, physically and financially. Read on to find out how to evaluate this…
Repairs Needed
We are sure your home in Virginia Beach was absolutely perfect at one point, or maybe even for years, but as homes (and we 🙂 age, did you do all the necessary updates? Imagine you would consider selling your house. Would it fetch a high price? Well, do you know that your beautiful beige kitchen may not be the most likeable color arrangement today? Many people we work with say, well, my kitchen is amazing, I remodeled it 12 years ago and it’s in great condition. So, here is reality – if I am a homebuyer and I am looking at two houses, one is yours and the other one is a house with a recently-rehabbed modern kitchen, which one do you think the buyer will choose to buy? Which house do you think will fetch a higher price? I think you already know the answer. Same goes for the roof, HVAC and any other features of the house. In fact, anything that’s more than 7-8 yrs old gets replaced when a house is rehabbed, if you want to get that “internet price” you see online. It would not be an exaggeration to assume that a total rehab on an older average-sized house with the materials & labor costs today can easily be between $45- and $75,000. If you have a smaller house, the repairs may be as much as the house is worth today. So, if your house has not seen much love and upgrades over the years, it may be worth significantly less today and it may be more trouble than it’s worth.
Taxes or Fees
If you have a HomeOowners’s Association (HOA) fees for your Virginia Beach house, there may be also some extra fees for special projects, which could amount to a pretty high dollar amount that you need to consider. Also, if you have an older and especially unwanted house, such as inherited house that needs many repairs, if no working adult is living in the house, it may become a tax burden and it may or may not be feasible to keep the house, as it may not make sense financially.
Routine Maintenance
In some cases, even a routine maintenance of your Virginia Beach home may be a burden. Imagine you have big trees surrounding the house. Tree branches may fall on the house and cause thousands of dollars in repairs costs. Same goes for bushes and other strong vegetation. What about pipes, plumbing and electrical systems? Hiring professional help can be very expensive and at some point the house may become more of a burden to upkeep than it’s worth. This is especially true if the people living in the house are aging and can’t handle much physical work actively.
Downsizing or Upsizing
Downsizing is a no-brainer – for example, if you bought a bigger Virginia Beach house to raise 4 kids, but now they are grown and really never coming back, why would you need a 5 or 6-bedroom house? Think about all the extra work for cleaning, utilities, etc. When the kids leave the house for college, or to live on their own, you will quickly realize the burden you now have, to care for this huge house that will likely only be filled with people on Thanksgiving or Christmas… so you will quickly realize that you house has become a burden financially, meaning it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Same goes if you have a smaller house but your family has quickly grown, so your house has become an issue and you will need to upsize.
So…
Wouldn’t you like to stop all the worrying about your Virginia Beach house? If it has already becoming a financial or physical burden based on the reasons we explained above, there is a way out, and you probably know what it is – sell your house and move into another one, with the proper size. Or, if you are older and you prefer to just retire with minimum property to care for (maybe no more cutting the grass) then maybe it’s time to sell your current house and move into an apartment. You may be thinking what are my selling options? You’ll want to know that there are several different ways to sell a house, beyond just listing it with a realtor. In some cases, selling direct to a house-buying company like us may be the better way! To learn how to end your burden of an unwanted or no-longer-needed property, send us a message or give us a call today! +1 (757) 414-7117