[Twitchy15]

We bought a 1960s older home in 2017 within our budget trying to be relatively smart financially. It is pretty small ~ 1200 sq foot main and upper floor which is fine but the basement is very small ~ 400 sq feet just a living room and furnace room. So no bedroom or bathroom we do have crawlspace storage. We have seen houses for sale with the same layout that create bedrooms or bathrooms but the space is to small to work well. We also have very little good storage areas.. crawl space sucks dusty and no fun going down in it lol.

House was cheap because previously owner did not do much and has no garage. Since we have done things roughly 40,000$ in improvements (windows,furance,AC, radon,concrete pad in backyard and new fence) but still could use some other work nothing urgent.

I've wanted a garage for years but we have a significant slope in the backyard. So if a 24x24 garage is ~$35,000 ours would probably be 50-60 grand basic package.

Recently came into some money so it would be possible to build it but not sure if it is the best choice now. It will raise the value but not by as much as it will cost. Not sure if it may be smarter to take the money and just move and find a slightly larger home with a garage already.

Issue is prices have gone up a good amount..interest rates.. I personally prefer older more centrally located homes as my wife also takes transit to work. We also have a baby on the way! So with the way everything is I think staying here in the short term makes sense its relatively cheap considering raising costs of everything.


TLDR smaller cheap home build expensive garage soon and lose money potentially when we upgrade down the road. Don't build garage and upgrade sooner larger home with garage already with the money.