Outgrowing Your Clairemont Home? How I'd Decide Whether to Stay or Move Up

A conversation I have often goes like this. An owner tells me they need one more bedroom. Then they add, "But we love this street. I don't know if we should sell."

That's the right place to start. I'd rather help you decide well than help you list fast.

The kitchen-table question

If you own a 1960s single-story in Clairemont, you've probably had this talk. A baby arrived. Or someone works from home now, and the dining table is an office. The garage is full. The yard felt big when you bought and feels small now. 

Part of it is the floor plan. Most of the older homes in Clairemont have small rooms, often roughly 10 by 10. That works for a young couple. It gets tight fast with kids, a desk, and a crib.

So the question comes up: do we add on, or do we move?

I don't have one answer. I have a way of working it out.

Start with what's actually wrong

Most owners say "we need more space." That's a feeling, and it covers a few different problems.

Is it one more bedroom? A home office? A bigger yard? A second bathroom that doesn't have a line outside it every morning? Write the real list down. A short list of one or two things points toward staying. A long list, where every item is "more," points toward a move.

I use the same habit from my years as a chef. You figure out what the dish needs before you start adding ingredients.

The case for staying

Your rate

If you bought a few years back, your mortgage may be a good deal lower than what a new loan would cost today. Giving that up is a real cost, and it belongs in the math. I can't tell you what your numbers are without seeing them. A lender can run your actual payment on a bigger purchase, and I'd start there.

Your street

You know your neighbors. You know which way the light falls in the afternoon. You can walk to the places you like. That has value, even though it never shows up in a spreadsheet. Some of my clients put it first, and I respect that.

If one extra room solves the problem, adding it may cost you less than a sale and a purchase. Both of those come with fees and moving costs, and I won't pretend otherwise. A licensed contractor can tell you what an addition would involve, and the City of San Diego can tell you what it would take to permit it. I'm not either of those, so get their numbers before you decide.

The case for moving up

Sometimes the list is just too long.

If you need two more bedrooms, a flatter yard and a different floor plan, an addition starts to look like rebuilding the house around you. At that point, moving may be the simpler path.

It also helps if you've built up solid equity. That money isn't doing much sitting in a house that no longer fits. If your family's needs have changed for good, waiting another year may only mean another year in the wrong house.

If you go that way, the next question is order. I wrote about how I'd decide whether to sell first or buy first. Read that one before you start looking at houses.

Three questions I ask every owner

1. If your house stayed exactly as it is for five more years, would you be okay? If yes, we probably have time, and there's no reason to rush.
2. Which would hurt more, giving up your current rate or giving up the extra space? There's no wrong answer. But you should say it out loud before we go further.
3. Where would you actually go? "Where would we even go?" is the first thing almost every owner asks me. It's a good question. Let's work out the landing before we talk about listing.

What I won't do

I won't tell you to sell because it's a good season. I won't give you a number to win the listing. If I think staying is the better move for your family, I'll say so, even if that means no sale for me this year.

Before you decide anything, it helps to know what your home would sell for. Equity is the piece most owners guess at. If the house needs some work first, here are the renovations actually worth doing before you sell, and a few that aren't.

Want the real number for your home?

If you're curious what your Clairemont home would sell for, I'll give you the honest number and show you how I got it. Find your home's value here. No pitch, no pressure.

Or just send me a note and tell me what's not working about the house. I'd like to hear the story. Hablo español.

Richard Torres, REALTOR® | Shore Realty | CA DRE #02006826 | 858-735-3225

Your Home. Your Story. Your San Diego.