You need to have a plan in mind of what your end result will be.

Not the layout, but what you want, ba it a kit, masterbedroom and bath, den, great room....whatever.
Then decide what in each house you visit, you would retain.

You see, you can clear a lot and start over.

Thanks. I am also wondering about cost. I have no idea how much something like adding a room, rooms or a second story costs. Is there some information some where that gives a general formula?

Take a look at the value of the land alone. Most assessors value the land plus the "improvement" (house, barn, whatever). In my city the land is most of the assessment where there are small houses on large lots.

Then you want to think whether the surrounding small houses will drag down the value of a larger house you would construct. Have others made big additions or have there been teardowns replaced by homes the size you want to have?
You don't want the biggest house in the neighborhood.

I don't think it is a wise investment to create a half-new house. If you are going to add one room, fine. If you want to double the size of the house, not so fine. Many small houses have public rooms too small to accomodate a family that needs a large number of BRs. They may have small bathrooms and closets, and 8-foot ceilings where new homes have large rooms and 9- or 10-foot ceilings.

Does that help?

It would be cheaper and more sensible to buy a bigger house to begin with than to add on to such a dinky house. Is there something special about the neighborhood?

Thanks. I am also wondering about cost. I have no idea how much something like adding a room, rooms or a second story costs. Is there some information some where that gives a general formula?

There is something special about the neighborhood. We live in the 'burbs now in a 2000 sq ft house. We want to be close to downtown and the new light rail that is being built. The public school system here has good schools and bad schools. We want a house that is zoned for the better schools. The larger houses in the area that we want are out of our price range (they are a hot commodity), which leaves these smaller houses.

Heatheranne- sometimes the overall cost of buying a smaller home then renovating it will cost you the same as a large home to start with.

But, as to your question...

When you are looking at smaller homes to renovate/expand consider the following:

-Size & number of the rooms. Often small houses have small rooms that may not support your intended use or todays lifestyle standards. (ie bedrooms smaller than 10'X10' or living rooms that are only 10-12' in dimensions)

-Small houses often come on small lots. Is there room for an addition on ground level, or will you need to go up.

-Layout of house & traffic circulation. How move from one room to another. Is there a way to attach an addition to the home? How will you access the new space from the existing home? Are there already stairs in place? Are those stairs placed so that a second floor addition has good circulation?

-Can you maintain the architecture of the existing home if you add on?

-If the house already has a second floor- it is better and less expensive if you are planning to build up. Otherwise you will have higher costs to build the floor support systems needed and there is greater disruption to the existing rooms.

-Avoid relocating a bathroom or kitchen to reduce costs. (ie; if you remove an existing bath to gain access to the addition, you will now need to rebuild the bath in a new location which will add cost.)

-Small homes can feel very small if rooms are compartmentalized. Consider during renovations to open lines of sight from one room to another. Longer sight lines will give the feeling of more open space.

Check out the "not so small home" books by Sara Susanka- there is one that talks about the principals of architecture and spatial design that will help you on developing a functional small home.

As far as the expense of an addition... It is not my field, but I do know that full dormers in my area run in excess of $100K (usually 2-3 bedrooms, 2 bath) You can stop by homes under renovation in your chosen area and speak to the homeowners about their projects. Often H/O are excited and may give you far more insight than you expected.

Good luck!

Also, check the zoning regulations in the area, as they may or may not permit the type of addition that you have planned. When such is the case, you can usually apply for a variance, but there is no gurantee that it will be granted. Best to get this all straightened out before you make an offer..or you may find yourself stuck with a home that can't be expanded to your needs.

In addition, if you plan to add a second story, the only way to know if thi is feasible with a one story home..and also to know what it would entail to do so properly is to have the specific home you choose evaluuted by a reputable structural engineer.

When I started thinking about remodeling my small (~1100 sf) house in a rural area, my first inclination was to add a second floor, but a builder friend advised me to build out rather than up. He said that when you're building from scratch it's cheaper to build up, but when you're remodelding it's cheaper to build out. Don't know how true that is, but I decided to add a 450 sf extension to the ground floor. This cost me approx. $100K, BUT that included a whole new septic system, a new HVAC system for the whole house, switching to propane, and some very complicated roof work over the patio. After the addition was finished, I took out a couple of walls in the original house, opening it up significantly, and that has made a world of difference in the "feel" of the place.

And I strongly second the suggestion made above, to look at some of Sara Susanka's "not so big" books --- lots of great ideas there.

Good luck with your plans!

---Margaret

The main thing we should have paid attention to was the roof line in the area where we wanted to put the addition and where the hvac/electrical was located. In our case the roof design for the addition was complicated (=expensive) and my hvac/electrical is in the way. We're going to have to get creative on the next round of additions to avoid the high cost of moving those items. Checking into neighborhood regulations is also strongly suggested. I live next to the historical district but not in it so I can do just about anything I want. The people in the historic district have to go through a lot of approvals.

De

The cost per square foot to renovate is more expensive than building new construction. In many areas of the country, additional regulations and high demand of trades can make remodeling be $300-$500 per square foot. In other areas, there is virtually no regulation at all, land and labor is cheap, and remodeling can be only slightly more expensive than building new. You don't give your location. In real estate, and remodeling, location is the #1 determinant of price. Mostly likely what you're proposing is going to be out of your budget range if you cannot afford the larger houses in the first place. If buying these smaller homes and remodeling them could be done cheaply, when they are adjacent to the more expensive area, then that trend would also be white hot.

Some good info, some I'll repeat:

Find out the residential zoneing rstrictions for the neighborhood that you're interested in. There may be different zones for your town.

Example, the older section of my town, by the water, has houses built in the 18th-19th centuries. Small lots, 1/5th-1/4th acre. As such, that area will have different setback restirctions than other less built-up parts of town, where 2 acres is the minimum for a buildable lot.

Find out what the setback restrictions are for the area you propose to buy in. Yu may not be able to build towards the street ot towards the sidelines. Back may be the only way to go, buyt if you're not on town/city water/septic, the back yard may be where the septic and well are located.

Will you have to go through a committee to get your plans approved? That could be a challenge. Fitting in to an older historical area often equates to using certain building materials, having a certain architectural flavor, and sometimes those requirements can boost your building costs.

Building up can be problematic. Some densly populated locales have "sunshine setbacks" where you have to prove that the shadow of your proposed structure won't put the neighbors in the dark.

As a guess? Plan $250 per sqft for a small addition, down to $175 per sqft for a larger addition. Could be less in a low-cost area, could be more in a higher cost neighborhood.

If not on a town sewer, adding bedrooms may require you to have a larger septic. $$$.

A lot of variables, but two places to start would be your town's building office for residential setback restrictions, and a realtor. The realtor will likely be familiar with what modifications have been, can be, and can't be done, to houses in certain neighborhoods.

Mongo

I will second ALL of Mongo's advice. Check with town hall, the building inspector's office, conservation commission, board of health for starters.
We were about to start a garage addition to our house this week, AFTER doing all of the above and being told by the offices mentioned that we did not have any wetlands within the bounds of restrictions and that we had nothing to be concerned about. This, after we patiently explained to multiple officials that we had knee deep water less than 100 feet from our back door for 10 months of the year. Nope! Look here on the map Mr. and Mrs. homeowner. No wetlands in your neighborhood whatsoever. Go get your plot plan$ and building plan$ drawn up and come get your permit. So we did..
This week, (12 months and lots of planning and dollars spent) the last step in the permitting process, the conservation folk come out to walk the property before signing off. The same people who swore up and down that there was nothing to be concerned about.
Gad ZOOKS, man! You can't build here! There's water within 100 feet of this proposed addition!
Even after trying to work within the system and cover the bases, you can still end up back at square one.