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We bought the 1964 custom house primarily for the half-acre lot and neighbourhood.

But we did get plans from an award-winning architectural technologist for a major reno immediately. However, after sleeping on it and adding up all the costs in my head, I concluded fuggetaboutit sometime past the C$350K mark. It would still be at heart a 1964 house.

Only sorry we didn't build immediately!!

Your decision may be influenced by what your municipality allows you to build. Sometimes there are limits on square footage, height, and setbacks that will affect what you are allowed to build.

Nobody can answer that as it depends too many factors.

Often.......you can leave only one wall standing, and a town or municipality will then let it fall under "remodel" which MAY mean your set backs won't change or can be expanded. Going down to the "dirt and foundation" can result in a change - to smaller footprint, a whole host of approvals and permits beyond those necessary for a remodel.

It may not result in fewer dollars spent, but the value may be far better if it results in a home that exceeds what was even remotely possible in the former structure. Or? You could find yourself sitting at town board meetings for a month of Mondays waiting for neighbors to "approve" YOUR change to their usual surroundings.

Again........your question belongs in the hands of an architect on your site, a builder on site, both familiar with your town and the powers that be and none of us are in the house or on the site.

Or....................go shopping and find a totally different house : )

agree you need a lot more information - the devil will be in the details for sure. I’d be careful not to make assumptions about pricing —

FWIW we tore down an old lake cabin that we decided was beyond repair and are building (sleepy midwest vacation town) and were surprised to find that new construction was $450/sq foot in a non-hot part of the country

and yes, you are right that a whole house demo is $$$

Cost need not be the deciding factor. A new shell can be better sealed with greater energy efficiency. New roof and siding, windows, etc. New hvac, upgraded electrical. The list goes on. The scope of your responsibility will also go up. You can get more to help from The Build Show. The Risinger Build: Episode 1 - Pre-Construction Planning (youtube.com)

THis cannot be answered here too many variables for sure . I happen to love old homes for many ereasons so I usually renovate , yes it might cost more but I can spend the money as I go along instead of going to the bank. BTW I hate airtight homes Id o not think they are healthy so I love my MCM ranch built like a rock and not drafty but it breathes . We rplaced all the electrical, plumbing heating and still only spent 200K on a 3200 sq ft house we did the work as far as all the rest so IMO a bargain at 400K all in .

Agreed, too many factors to be able to give an answer. But, a recent poster on Houzz was asking if an $80 - 90 k estimate for demolition was reasonable. There is sticker shock around every corner of both remodeling and tear down and build.

: ) That too lol

To Jan's point, you also have to factor in if there will be a change in property tax if you do a complete re-build. Here in Californa, leaving one wall up keeps the tax base the same as it was previously, while a total demo and re-build would re-set the property tax base at the newest rate. Crazy, I know. But that's Prop 13 for ya.

Another aspect is lot value versus the value of the house.

Used to live in LA and the lot value was roughly 2/3 of the total value, so it could make more sense to tear down an older structure that isn't actually worth that much.

I'm now in FL and land value is a much smaller percentage, so in many cases it doesn't make sense to tear down a house that is a large percent of the total value, even if old. In my area this ratio has changed quite a bit since covid, with land value increasing, so we are seeing some teardowns.

Yep, Prop 13 in CA is crazy! You can have 2 "identical" house on a street and one will be paying $5000/year in RE taxes and the other will be paying $35,000/year

The difference? One bought the house recently and the other bought it 30 years ago, but the houses are worth exactly the same if they were to be listed/sold.

Also if you leave the house to a "child", they get to take over that lower RE tax value, even if it isn't the primary home of the "child".

I prefer what many other states do, which is tax based on current market value of the house/property.

Before he became a paid enthusiast for every new building method on the block, Matt documented a reno he was doing. Along the way, it became obvious even to him that the cost and hassle was exceeding the return.

***

According to Sabrina, "Here in Californ[i]a, leaving one wall up keeps the tax base the same as it was previously, while a total demo and re-build would re-set the property tax base at the newest rate."

Not so here in the Toronto GTA. But it does allow you the same building setbacks that would otherwise require expensive lengthy hearings where all the people who hate new homes will show up in force before the Committee of Adjustments to knock your proposal.

Actually, we did have the choice of remodeling or tearing down. This was before COVID, (have to put that info in because it changed everything in the building business). We bought the most adorable small house on the road to the beach...Beach Road on Cape Cod. Adorable, great location, and meant to be our downsize. Our builder (long time) was with us all the way. He knew what we would want to do. He did a quick add up of doing this, doing that, adding on, etc and the cost was as much as a new house. Tearing down he said is relatively inexpensive. Did the numbers again; he was correct; we decided to do neither and bought a house which he remodeled perfectly.

So, to answer your question, often tearing down and rebuilding is more sensible; remodeling can open a huge can or worms.

Take your question to the town building department and see what will be involved should you decide to take the house down. Our cost then was around $20,000.00

I would look for land before doing a tear down - or if your current house is sellable (you just dont like it) try to buy the worst house in the neighborhood that meets your needs and sell yours and demo the worst house - this way you have somewhere to live while the new home is getting built -- the cost of the interim when going through a new build can get to be very expensive (temp housing, storing your stuff, the stress etc)

I forgot about a couple who sold just the house itself and the buyer had it moved to his property. It was a parade of trucks, flatbeds, police detail, but not unusual. Owners of the house got a nice amount to start the new build.

If you are touching 40% of the home, it's time to look at building new. If you are "rearranging" an older home, it's time to look at building new. If you are going to still end up with 8' ceilings, poor flow, and a cramped house, it's time to look at building new. If you don't like 50% of the house, as is, before you buy it ,then do not buy it! A remodel isn't going to be able to change the things about the house that you hate. If it could, the previous owners would have already done that.

The restrictions on a remodel that are imposed by starting with the existing structure cannot be overstated enough. The freedom that results from just scraping the lot and starting over cannot be overstated enough.

I'll add one other factor, which is environmental responsibility. To make changes to an existing house is way less wasteful (of the resources that went into building the first one) than starting over. Plus, some older houses are actually built *better* than modern ones, with real materials rather than brick veneer, etc. So you need to assess the possibilities.

Sometimes it comes down to 'heads' remodel, 'tails' rebuild.

Weird things can happen!

Here? Here's what happened.

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House was a very historical 1920.....shingled, added onto willy nilly. Sleeping porches, a second floor with SEVEN foot ceilings, a very bad kitchen , stairs smack in the middle and more.

Valiant!!!!effort began. A zillion drawings/plans. MINOR change to footprint, which was approved. Call the Amish! They took every board, nail and screw and we're good to go.

We begin framing, considerate of history.... and the cranky/sad former owner who moved up the road. We are many many many you can't even imagine $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ into this and the town shows up at the site

" You got bad info. You either raise this house three feet, or you tear it down"

WHHHAAAAAAAT????

We tore down.....it was elevated and we STILL had lots of flooding in the process.. Water......rain.....more water.

Omg Jan Moyer finish the story. I’m dying g to know the outcome

. . . And they lived happily ever after.

^^^

Yes........@Bellgirl

Happily ever after: )

After a move in that required palettes over 6 inches of mud, and moving blankets over the boards, and you just don't want to know how MUCH fun we had....NOT

The woman whose home we tore down? She still hates me, still makes me know it every time I see her, and would be HAPPY to see me washed into the lake to drown at the next big rain event!

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