I could really use some advice here. We are trying to decide whether to sell our house or do an addition.

We live in Westchester County New York, a very expensive area. This is why we bought a somewhat crazy house on a hill about five years ago in a great school district with a decent commute to the city.
The house itself is very cute, it is a three bedroom one bath (we added a wall for the third bedroom). It is on a half acre, very woodsy and private even though it is on a very suburban sTreet. The kicker is that it is 47 feet above street level. No garage. We have a winding path of sloping steps up to the house. I totally don't mind – don't need a stairmaster. Plus, it was so much cheaper that it made it worth it. We pay less than we did for our one-bedroom in the city.

We would like a three bedroom two bath house with a bit more space that doesn't have quite so many stairs. We would spend about the same amount to either buy a different house or do an addition that includes a driveway up and addition below our current house to reduce the steps. Really need advice on which is the better way.

For the addition, the pros are that we don't have to deal with selling a house that will be very difficult to sell due to the stairs. Also, we could design it to suit our needs – I really love a kitchen connected to the living room and there are very few of those on the market in our price range around here, although for we might be able to remove a wall. We also get to keep our lovely Neighborhood, the great schools, and the great commute. However, we would still have about 22 feet between where we would park the car and the entrance to our home. We would do this with probably 12 feet up of a sloping path up, and 10 feet of stairs into the house. Many of the homes around us have 10 feet of stairs up since it is a very hilly area. A garage may also not be in the budget right now. But are we putting so much money in for the addition and the house might still be hard to sell in the future or we would never recoup a big piece. We expect to stay in this house at least another 20 years, and I don't need to make money on this, but I don't want to make a completely stupid choice.


Buying another house has the advantages of being able to have a flat lot. However, in our price range usually the kitchens and baths are awful and we would have to plan to update those down the road. Also the floor plans are pretty out of date with very separate rooms. We would probably not be able to afford as many square feet as if we did the addition –maybe a different house of 1700-2000 Square feet, versus an addition that would give us a total of 2400 square feet. However, that plenty for me. We have two kids. Also another house would have a garage. Probably only a one car garage, as few homes around here in our price range have two car garages.

Advice please? Also, please share your stories. Our additional budget is 250,000 to 300,000. We would manage it with a