There are pros and cons to both moving house and renovating. When you renovate, you’ll have to live in a construction zone for quite some time. It can be challenging to prepare meals in a kitchen that’s had its floorboards or tapware removed in preparation for replacement. Paint fumes can make the whole family feel dizzy and out of sorts.

Moving house also has its challenges, requiring you to attend to dozens of important details. You’ll need to pack up all your belongings, and you risk breaking or losing your valuables. When moving house electricity connection at a new home, it’s crucial to avoid spending a few nights in the dark. Most challenging of all, if you’re moving to a new neighbourhood, you’ll have to adjust to a new routine—finding new shopping centres, parks, libraries, and recreational facilities for your family to utilise. Without a doubt, moving can be just as stressful as renovating.

If one of these processes would be more stressful than the other for your family, it’s worthwhile to take that into consideration when making your decision about whether to move or renovate. For example, if your children love their school, moving to a different school district might be more stressful than enduring the home renovation process would be.

Renovating and moving house are both expensive, but you’re making a tangible investment in your home when you renovate. If you make smart home improvements, you have a good chance of getting part of that investment back if you do eventually decide to sell your home at some time in the future. In contrast, when you move house, the expenses are not recoverable. Neither are the real estate agents’ fees. So it’s worthwhile to consider the value you’d get for the money you spend on renovating versus moving.

On the other hand, you also want to avoid making improvements that would make the home impossible to sell in the future. There are cases when unconventional home improvements can negatively affect the value of your home. You also want to avoid over-improving the home beyond what is warranted in your current neighborhood.

If you’re selling your home because you need more space, an important consideration is whether you can afford to buy a larger home. If you can’t afford it, it’s probably more realistic to renovate. It’s possible that you may be able to borrow money for your renovations based on the equity you already have in your current home.

Does your current home hold lovely memories for your family or sad ones? How much of an emotional attachment do you and your loved ones have for the home? The answers to these questions can help you to decide whether it’s better to stay and renovate or to move on.

There are times when you just cannot avoid a move. If you can’t find a suitable job in the area, your children are attending a poorly ranked school, or you hate the neighbourhood, moving house may be the smartest way to fix the situation. A new neighborhood might offer your family a lifestyle that’s more like what you really want.

These are some of the most important considerations to discuss with your loved ones when you’re deciding whether to move or renovate your home.