Buying a Home to Renovate? What to Check Before Closing
Buying a home with plans to renovate can be exciting, especially when the property has the location, character, or potential you have been looking for. It is easy to walk through a house and immediately imagine a larger kitchen, a more open living area, an additional bedroom, or a better connection to the backyard.
Before closing, however, it is worth understanding how the existing home may respond to those ideas. Some changes may be relatively straightforward, while others can involve structural modifications, building systems, zoning requirements, or conditions that are difficult to recognize during a typical showing.
If you are buying a home to renovate, looking at the property through the lens of the future renovation can help you understand what you are actually purchasing, not just what you see today.
Look Beyond the Finishes
During a showing, buyers naturally notice finishes first. Flooring, cabinets, countertops, fixtures, and paint are easy to see and relatively easy to imagine changing.
The conditions that can have a greater impact on a renovation are often less visible.
A wall the buyer wants to remove may be structural. Moving a kitchen can affect plumbing, electrical service, ventilation, and the surrounding layout. An older home may have systems that need to be evaluated as part of a larger renovation. Ceiling heights, roof framing, window locations, and changes in floor elevation can also influence what is practical.
None of these conditions automatically make a home a poor candidate for renovation. They simply provide a more complete understanding of the work that may be involved.
Consider the Changes You Cannot Make Inside the Existing Footprint
Sometimes the home has the right location but simply does not have enough space for what the buyer needs. That is when the conversation begins to move beyond renovation and toward an addition.
Before assuming the house can be expanded, the property itself needs to be considered. Setbacks, lot coverage, easements, zoning requirements, trees, drainage, and other site conditions can influence where additional square footage may be possible.
The shape and placement of the existing home matter too. An addition needs to work with the current structure while also improving the organization of the house rather than simply adding more square footage.
If the property itself is still being evaluated, our article Can Your Client Build on a Lot? What to Know Before They Buy explains some of the site conditions worth understanding before purchasing land or planning significant expansion.
Think About How You Want the Home to Work
One of the most useful things a buyer can do before closing is move beyond a list of rooms they want to change and think about how they actually want to live in the house.
A family that entertains frequently may care about the relationship between the kitchen, dining area, living spaces, and backyard. Someone working from home may need privacy that the current floor plan does not provide. A growing family may be thinking about bedrooms and storage today while also considering how those needs could change over time.
Those priorities help determine whether the existing house has the right foundation for the renovation. Sometimes the answer is a major reconfiguration. In other cases, a few carefully considered changes can solve the problems that initially made the house feel unsuitable.
Our Living & Entertaining article looks more closely at how residential design can respond to everyday routines, gathering, and the way a family uses its home.
Understand What a Major Renovation May Involve
A renovation is not always limited to the rooms that look different when the project is finished. Changes to the layout can affect structural systems, mechanical equipment, electrical service, plumbing, windows, doors, insulation, and other parts of the existing home.
The scope also influences which consultants may need to become involved. Depending on the project, an architect may coordinate with structural engineers, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing consultants, civil professionals, or other specialists.
Permitting requirements will vary depending on the property, jurisdiction, and proposed work. For that reason, it is useful to understand the general scope of the renovation before making assumptions about what the project will require.
This does not mean every condition needs to be resolved before purchasing the home. It means the buyer should have enough information to understand whether the property and the renovation they envision are reasonably compatible.
Why an Architect Can Be Helpful Before Closing
Many homeowners first contact an architect after they have purchased a property and are ready to begin designing the renovation. There are situations, however, where having an architect look at the property earlier can be useful.
If the purchase depends on removing a significant wall, building an addition, substantially reorganizing the floor plan, or making another major architectural change, an early review can help identify questions that deserve further investigation.
The goal at this stage is not to design the renovation before closing. It is to look at the existing house in relation to what the buyer hopes to accomplish and identify conditions that may influence those plans.
A residential architect can also help the buyer distinguish between ideas that primarily involve finishes and those that may require a larger architectural or structural response.
Buying a Home to Renovate Starts With the Right Questions
A home does not need to be perfect at closing to become the right home. In fact, part of the appeal of buying an existing property can be the opportunity to adapt it to the people who will live there.
What matters is understanding the difference between seeing potential and understanding what that potential may require.
Before purchasing a home with a significant renovation in mind, consider the existing structure, building systems, site, possible additions, and the way the current floor plan relates to your priorities. That information can provide a much stronger starting point for both the purchase decision and the design process that follows.
At Markle + Diaz Architects, our residential architecture services include working with existing homes and helping clients understand how a property can be adapted to meet their needs.
Considering a Home That Needs Renovation?
If you are evaluating a property and already have changes in mind, our residential team can help you understand the existing home, identify conditions that may affect your plans, and determine what may be involved in adapting the property to your needs.
Whether you are considering changes to the existing layout, a home addition, or a larger renovation, having a clearer understanding of the property before closing can help you make a more informed decision.
Before you close, talk with our team about the home you're considering and the changes you have in mind.
