Love’s Labor Costs: load-bearing advice for your love-hate relationship with your home.
Dear Dylan,
My husband spends every night on Zillow looking at bigger houses. I say we add on. Who’s right? (Please say me.)
Signed, Zillow Widow in San Jose
Dear Widow,
You’re right. Mostly. An addition is a one-time expense. Moving comes with costs that never go away: a new mortgage at today’s rates, a property tax bill reset to the full purchase price, plus commissions, transfer taxes and closing costs.
Here’s my rule of thumb: on a Bay Area home over $2 million, a 25% down payment on the bigger house usually covers at least 75% of what the addition would cost. And you keep your neighborhood, your schools and your lot.
Show him this column. Then hide his phone.
— Your friendly neighborhood contractor
Read more: Is an addition cheaper than moving? in our Home Additions FAQ.
Love’s Labor Costs is written by Dylan Bertet, owner of Build Better Properties, a Bay Area design-build contractor (CSLB #1077286). Letters are made up for fun; the answers are real. Got a question? Send it in, and it might end up in the column.