The coronavirus pandemic forced people to stay at home most of the time, studying or working from home and limiting trips outside to the most essential ones. This created a need for home classrooms, home offices, and even home gyms. Being cooped up inside also created the need for more outdoor breathing room within the property.

Data from The Neighbor 2020 – 2021 American Migration Report show that half of the people who are transferring to a new home in 2021 are moving to a larger house. Almost half or 48 percent are seeking more outdoor space, 42 percent are seeking more kitchen space, 40 percent are seeking more storage space, 31 percent are seeking more garage space, 28 percent are seeking more space to work from home, 20 percent are seeking more space for exercise equipment, and 13 percent are seeking more space for remote learning.

Alternative to Moving

If you are a current homeowner who feels the same needs, you do not necessarily have to move to a larger house. There can be many reasons why you want to stay, such as sentimental connections to the property, living close to other family members, or liking the neighborhood. You can stay and remodel your current home instead to add more living space.

Your house can be your source of funds for remodeling. As a homeowner, you are now what they call “house rich.” This means that as the prices of homes in the market rise, so does your equity in your home. According to Fortune.com, the median price of existing homes rose from $270,400 to $313,000 in the last 12 months, an increase of 16 percent.

You can look for a reliable mortgage company to cash out your home equity and use this to expand your current house. This will give you a lower interest rate than other types of loans.

Expansion Ideas for Your Home

You can expand your house horizontally or vertically, depending on your lot area. You can also do both if that is possible.

If you do not want to make any changes to your current house, you can build an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) beside it. The ADU can be attached to or separate from the main house. It will have its own entrance, though, and its own toilet and bathroom, and kitchen.

The ADU can be a studio-type, or it can have several rooms. It can have one or more floors. Check with your local authorities first on the rules governing the building of an ADU in your area.

You can use separate rooms on the second floor of the ADU as home offices, home classrooms, and a home gym. The accessibility to a toilet and bathroom is a great advantage. You can use the entire first floor as a new kitchen, an extension of the one in the main house. Alternatively, you can build an ADU with three floors and use the first floor as additional garage and storage space.

To create more outdoor leisure spaces, you can build a patio and surround it with a garden of vegetables, fruits, and herbs. Tending the garden can be a satisfying daily activity and harvesting edible crops will provide fresh and healthy food for your table. You and your family can relax on the patio, have a barbecue, or just lounge around in the fresh air, soaking in the sunshine. You can also do your regular exercises on the patio.

If there is no room for an ADU, a patio, and a garden in your property, consider vertical expansion instead. You can build an additional floor or two in the house and make a roof deck.

The additional floors can contain the home offices, home classrooms, and home gym. You can just run downstairs for a kitchen break and a bathroom break or add a toilet on the new floors. The roof deck can take the place of the patio, and you can add potted vegetables, fruits, and herbs around it, as well.

If you have the option of building both upwards and sideways, put up an ADU and additional floors. Building these at the same time costs less than building one and doing the other later. If you do everything at once, you can ask for a discount from the contractor. The construction will also be just one period of inconvenience for you.

Your Home, Just Better

When your house no longer fits your needs, do something about it. Many people are doing home renovations and remodeling during the pandemic for this reason.

Cashing out your equity is worth it because all the improvements you make on your home increase its market value. It is the same as investing your money in your property. It has the added benefit of you enjoying your investment now and not just when you sell your house in the future.

Robert Spurr