To renovate, or to wait?

Lockdown forced you to spend a LOT more time at home than ever before?

You always enjoyed your home, but let’s face it, there are just a few little tweaks that could turn it into your dream home – perhaps add a new bedroom which you could use as your home office, a third bathroom or why not go double storey because let’s face it, tiny living is NO fun during lockdown!

Before you call the builders and brace yourself for living a month or two of life on a building site, work through these checkpoints:

• Does my home loan offer an access bond facility which will allow me to pay more into it every month and then at a later stage, withdraw the surplus funds?

• Am I putting all my monthly savings into my bond account? (which has the added benefit of shortening my payment period which in turn, saves me interest) Of course, you will access these funds to do the renovations at a later stage, but for the period you are saving towards that goal, you will reap the rewards.

• Take a long hard look at your budget, where can you save money? Monthly subscriptions can be a money drain - do you really use Apple music that often? What about that new jacket you simply have to have for winter? New cushions for your couch? Nope, not essential. Cut back on all nonessential short-term spending, reminding yourself of your long-term goal every time you feel tempted to splurge on the latest MUST HAVE item the glossy magazines insist life is not worth living without!

• Have I designed a crystal-clear plan of the changes I'd like to make to my home?

• Do I have at least three quotes from the relevant people to understand exactly what costs are involved? You might need an architect, a builder or perhaps just a handyman.

• Ideally, you want to save enough money to be able to pay for the renovation without having to take out a loan. Using the steps outlined above you will be able to save the money, or at least a significant portion thereof, in order to upgrade your home.

That sounds like a LOT of 'thinking' and 'doing' work, right?

The alternative?

Lying awake at night being crushed under the weight of the larger monthly bond repayments, wondering how the dream of more space turned into the nightmare of being financially stretched to the limit.

When you have the money, that’s the sign that you are financially ready to upgrade your home.

To paraphrase Jim Rohn: we must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of planning or the pain of regret. The difference is planning weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.