Should We Renovate Our Current Place or Just Move?
This question comes up constantly for families across the inner east and bayside. There is no universal answer, but there is a clear way to think it through.
Renovate if
- You love your location and cannot imagine leaving
- Your kids are settled in their schools and friendships
- The bones of the house are solid (structure, land size, aspect)
- Renovation costs sit below roughly 30 percent of the property value
- You plan to stay seven years or longer
Move if
- You have genuinely outgrown the space, not just the layout
- Your family’s needs have shifted (new baby, elderly parent moving in)
- The location no longer serves you (changed commute, different school zone, craving beach lifestyle)
- You would need to over-capitalise to make it work
- You feel you “should” renovate rather than actually wanting to
The hidden cost no one talks about.
Renovation fatigue. Living through a six month renovation with children is no small thing. I watched a family spend four hundred thousand renovating in Prahran. It took nine months. Fourteen months later, they listed the home and moved to Elwood. They realised they wanted the beach lifestyle, not simply a nicer version of the same life. They would have been better off moving immediately and saving the time, stress and money.
My rule of thumb.
Renovate to stay. Move to change. If you are renovating in the hope that it will make you love the home, it will not. You will simply end up with a nicer version of something that still does not fit.
Are you renovating to stay or to sell?
Related article.
If you are buying Melbourne property from Europe or Asia, there is a timeline that actually works. It is predictable, calm and designed to avoid rushed decisions.
A client asked me yesterday: Why would I pay South Yarra prices when Elwood has the beach and a better lifestyle?