Big Decisions About Our Home
We have made some very big decisions abut our home which include selling and then buying land to build our dream home!
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sun Life Financial for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
We’ve had a crazy couple of months around here.
Making big life decisions…
We’ve been thinking about selling our home and purchasing property to build a new home. In fact, our lakeside house is currently for sale as we found a beautiful property across the lake from us that we hoped to build our dream home on. As much as we absolutely love our home and are loathe to leave it, we’ve also always wanted to tackle building a home from scratch. Truthfully, we aren’t sure whether it will happen and how it will all work out, but at this point we’re putting it out there and seeing what is to come.
It’s been exciting and stressful all rolled into one, and we still aren’t exactly sure where the chips are going to fall. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of buying a new home or buying a property to build a new home; but there are so many additional factors and costs to consider when making such an enormous decision.
Home Ownership
Owning a home is not something to be taken lightly, whether it’s your first, third, or tenth time.
When thinking about moving, do you ever consider how much it can cost you to sell your home first? In many of today’s hot real estate markets, it could cost you thousands and thousands of dollars for real estate commissions, legal fees, and taxes. You need to be aware of and carefully calculate these costs when making the best decision for you and your family. The costs associated with selling a home can take a big chunk out of your down payment for your new home or property.
There can be a lot of stress not just around selling and purchasing a new home, but even more if you need to renovate as well. Having lived through the process many times now, it is definitely a factor to consider when thinking about owning a home. As much as I absolutely love renovating and seeing a home transform from something dated to a beautiful and comfortable space for our family, I have to account for the amount of time, energy, funds, and it will require in addition to the strain and stress it will place on our family.
Considerations For Buying And Selling A Home
It’s all a big decision, and one that has huge financial ramifications. Thankfully we have an advisor that we work with to help us navigate this tricky side of life. I also found that the Life Moments section on the Sun Life Financial website shares all kinds of super informative articles all about the various factors to consider when thinking about buying, selling, and owning a home. For example, did you know how expensive it actually is to sell your home? The amount of money it will cost us directly impacts the funds that we will have available to build, and is a huge consideration when trying to determine whether it makes financial sense to go this route or not.
So, at this point, it is a wait-and-see game for us. We aren’t sure if we will end up staying where we are or whether we will be purchasing a new property to build a new home. Either way, we are truly thankful for all we have and know that the most important part of our home is the people who are in it; not the walls that surround us.
You have a beautiful home and the view is amazing! When you announced that you had put it up for sale quite honestly I was shocked. When you say that you “absolutely love” your home and are “loathe to leave it” I have a difficult time understanding the motivation behind selling it. What is it that building a home “from scratch” would give you that you haven’t already created in this home?
Hi Denise!
Yes, we do love our home… and it would be sad to leave a place that we have made amazing family memories in. Our motivation to move is a bit complex because it’s such a tiny real-estate market where we live. First off, there are certain things that we can’t ever change about this house that we don’t love but they are obviously things we can live with. Secondly, it is almost unheard-of that a lakefront building property comes available on the lake where we live. It’s a very rare opportunity, so we thought we would see if we could make it work, having always wanted to build a home (I think I first started sketching out house plans on graph paper at the age of 11).
BUT… all that to say, we are truly in the best situation possible. We don’t have to sell, by any stretch, and the dream of building could always come to us somewhere down the road… in retirement, for example. That’s why I feel good about the advice we are following and making this decision logically and based on what makes the best financial sense for our family. We just may end up staying put, and we are totally good with that!
I understand that you would like a challenge and building a home from scratch is a lot of fun, but remember, once you sell your home that you love, you can never go back. You may find that a new home is great and you have no regrets, and certainly that will probably be the case. But once the deal is done, the deal is done. I had a home that I loved about 15 years ago, in another country, and in all honesty, we didn’t really have to sell and move countries, but we did, and we’ve regretted it ever since. The grass was not greener on the other side 😉 And now the real estate market where we once lived has priced us out :/ Food for thought 🙂
Hi Petra!
I love this perspective- so true. The grass is always greener, isn’t it? It’s always a bit of a risk, making a big change or move… there have even been times that we’ve regretted selling our previous house as it was located so much more centrally and we have to drive a lot more living out here. I’m sorry to hear that you guys have always regretted your decision! That is definitely a fear… giving up something that we love and never being able to go back.
I wish all of my listings looked this way! I always help clients stage….. In fact, we flip homes and I have a storage shed of everything to stage a 5 bedroom home. I’ve purchased rugs, etc. for some of my bachelor clients before listing their homes. If it’s priced right or even a little above, it’ll sell! Relax and enjoy this journey. I LOVE it!
Hi Joan,
What a fun job! I would love to do more of what you do… staging and flipping. So fun! Our real-estate market is really tiny here, and heavily influenced by the Vancouver market, which seems to be at a bit of a slow-down. So we shall see… either way, we are lucky to be in a position where either alternative is a great option!
What a lovely home why would you ever want to leave.
Hi Deborah,
Thank you! Yes, we do love our home… and it would be sad to leave a place that we have made amazing family memories in. Our motivation to move is a bit complex because it’s such a tiny real-estate market where we live. First off, there are certain things that we can’t ever change about this house that we don’t love but they are obviously things we can live with. Secondly, it is almost unheard-of that a lakefront building property comes available on the lake where we live. It’s a very rare opportunity, so we thought we would see if we could make it work, having always wanted to build a home (I think I first started sketching out house plans on graph paper at the age of 11).
BUT… all that to say, we are truly in the best situation possible. We don’t have to sell, by any stretch, and the dream of building could always come to us somewhere down the road… in retirement, for example. That’s why I feel good about the advice we are following and making this decision logically and based on what makes the best financial sense for our family. We just may end up staying put, and we are totally good with that!