Wreck it or revive it? When to remodel

Wreck it or revive it? When to remodel


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SALT LAKE CITY — As hard as surviving in the current economy is, It could be worse for the remodeling industry, according to an article in the The Wichita Eagle.

"As a remodeler, we've made it through the harder time when interest rates were low and housing was going through the charts," Cris Keeter, owner of All States Exteriors, told The Wichita Eagle.

For those fixing up homes and remodeling, recovery has come from the recession, but it's come slowly. Projects shrank in size from whole-room remodels to replacing kitchen countertops and backsplashes.

When finances ran low, remodeling is one thing Americans chose to do without. But when is it beneficial to remodel a house compared to purchasing a new one?

It really depends on who you ask, according to a recent article in the Deseret News.

Mike Armann, a former mortgage broker for 20-years said falling in love with an old home is a disaster. His motto is to ‘tear it down!' He gives himself the self-description of a "serial property owner."

Deseret News:

But others disagree with Armann. Bob Yapp said nothing is greener and more sustainable than rehabilitating older property.

""The least environmentally sound thing you can do is build something new," he says, "because of embodied energy."

He disagrees with the methods of television renovation shows, believing them to waste money by throwing out historic material or not creating sustainable work.

In the long run, he said fixing up a historic home is worth the sacrifices.

"The energy required to rehab a house is going to be far less than the amount of energy necessary to build a new house," said Yapp to Deseret News. "No matter how hard you try to be environmentally sound to build something new, it will never, never be as environmentally sound as recycling an old property."

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