It's one of the most important conversations I have with clients — and it has nothing to do with tile or cabinetry. Should you remodel your current home, or is it time to move?
I've been asked this question hundreds of times over 27 years working with homeowners in Portland, Lake Oswego, and SW Washington. And I'll tell you something: I don't always answer with a remodel.
Sometimes moving is genuinely the right answer. But in my experience, the decision is made too quickly — with too little information about what's actually possible in the home someone already owns and already loves.
Why the Portland market makes this harder right now: In the current Portland and Lake Oswego market, moving often means giving up a home you love for one that needs the same work — plus transaction costs, moving costs, and the emotional weight of leaving a neighborhood and a community that knows your name.
A thoughtful remodel, planned well and executed with a clear design vision, frequently delivers a better home and a better financial outcome than moving. But that's only true if it's done right — with a real plan, real specifications, and a contractor executing against something coherent.
The questions worth asking before you decide:
- Does this home have good bones? Layout, light, and outdoor space are the things you can't change easily. Everything else — finishes, kitchens, bathrooms — can be transformed.
- What would it actually cost to get what you want here versus buying it somewhere else? Most people haven't honestly done this math.
- What are you really trying to solve? Sometimes this conversation reveals that what someone actually wants is a different lifestyle — not a different kitchen.
- How long are you planning to stay? If the answer is ten or more years, the calculus almost always favors investing in the home you're in.
This is a conversation, not a sales pitch: Part of what I do is help clients think through the remodel-or-move question before we ever open a material sample book. I'm happy to have it honestly — including when the honest answer leads somewhere other than a design project.
For the referral partners in my network — financial advisors, real estate agents, estate attorneys — this is exactly the kind of conversation your clients are having right now. I'd love to be a resource you can refer them to.