Yes. Worth it as we are using it NOW. People said what you said to me 4 years ago when I started the house updating. Well, my first rooms- the master bath and our bedroom- are now already 4 years old and guess what? We have been using those rooms! Other 2 bathrooms 3 years old. Central hall and bonus room just completed this past spring. My kitchen- now already two years old and I love it! We have two rooms left (living room and study) and I am finishing up this spring hopefully. Just got rid of our 35 year old couch. I feel that if we have to work for another 5 or 6 years I am going to enjoy our home that we worked so hard for. When we come home from a hard day's work we want to be comfortable and happy with our house NOW. It really needed upgrading. We, of course, have to pay the labor- painting refinishing floors- for our living room- will buy furniture. All big $$$.
We can't move right now because of our jobs. Once we retire we have to give ourselves some breathing room to plan our move to another area. It will take a while to sell our home. (FOR SALE: Saltbox. Sunny. Big 2 car garage. It is only 2 bedrooms and no basement. Master bath has a steam shower. It does have a bonus room with big skylights, and a study (with direct access to garage) and 3 bathrooms. Whole house generator (propane) and central air. Large dog pen attached to garage with doggy door. Small screened porch with outside stamped concrete patio off that and long ground level deck with 2 sets of Marvin glass terrace doors from kitchen and dining room. Ground floor washer and dryer off the kitchen. Not an open plan house and simple- no fancy moldings or architecture or anything. Huge walk up attic. Vinyl siding. 8 year old roof. 8 year old System 2000 oil boiler. Outside above ground tall oil tank.10.5 wooded acres. Paved (twice)700 ft driveway which includes a bridge over a stream. House set way back- totally secluded. Good school district. Very well-maintained and clean by an OCD owner! Some local issues going on as well) The other thing is that despite the market here, new houses have sprung up around us that we will have to compete with. (Not that they are selling). In fact, a builder just bought the 2 lot property next to ours. So having an already somewhat updated house will help a little, although by the time we sell it everything we have just done will already be mostly 10 years old!!
Crazy! Lived here 28 years as of yesterday. We know we will lose on our home. When all is said and done, I think we will have put at least $200,000 into this $200,000 home over the 28 years. Market value - 4 years ago according to 3 realtors- when only the master bathroom was done- was $247,000 and they told us even with redoing the kitchen it wouldn't help too much because of the market/area. Trust me when I say this is a really nice house- such a shame. Not Better Homes and Gardens, but really nice. In other markets- like near NYC or in California or someplace like that this house and property would easily be a million dollars or more.
No way can we change jobs. When we leave these that will be it. Don't have it in us to look for jobs anymore. In rural areas like this- you have to commute no matter what. Part time jobs aren't worth the gas and wear and tear on our cars and bodies. (Heck- the full time ones are barely worth it! Lol!)
We only have one kid and he lives in NH (who is not financially stable) and we have no other family nearby. My brother (who lives about 1.5 hours from here) will probably end up in Florida) No close friends nearby either. So- the plan is to most likely move to NH, although who knows what we will be able to afford there? I told hubby no way am I going into a mobile home park!! We shall see!
