I am surprised that you think that having a 2nd floor apartment would be a disadvantage. To my mind, 2 family houses tend to sell well in NYC, as many people like the idea of the income potential and/or a separate independent space for an in-law. Given that you've already invested $$ into fixing the place up, it probably wouldn't make a lot of sense to sell now unless you needed to. You can always build a separate aparment upstairs that a potential buyer (or you, if you stay) could ultimately be incorporated into your existing space.

My first question would be can your mom handle the stairs to the 2nd floor?

Other than that it would be possible for you to build a second story that is more universal use. Could be used for apartment or as part of the house.

Plan it with a couple of bedrooms and 1 bath up there and then a large room that has a kitchenette so later it could be used as a gameroom with a snack area up there. This large room would have eating/living all combined into an open room. Connect the upstairs and downstairs with stairs. Maybe have two doors similar to doors between two hotel rooms. Or if you put the stairs in a u-shape on an exterior wall you could have an entry door from the outside to the stairs with a landing at the bottom and also a door into the bottom stairs there that could later be removed for normal access.

You can't sell it as a two family home if it's not zoned for a two family home-check your zoning laws first before you do that to the house.

Would it make more sense to turn it into an L shaped rancher?

I think some sort of an "apartment" is going to be a plus in the coming years as more & more people care for their parents. I don't really like the stairs idea for an older person as I have a neighbor in his 80's that has stairs and was thinking of putting his house on the market then the market dropped. Just about all of the people I know in their late 70's early 80's have some sort of problem where doing stairs every day wouldn't work.

I would not do anything until the market looks like it's turned back for sure (which could, of course, even be a couple of years). By then you and your fiance will have worked out whether or not you're staying, and I do think it's important to sort that first, as you're apparently making plans based on that as much as anything. Now is not the time to be putting money into something hoping to sell it afterward - renos always end up costing a lot more than planned (seems inevitable), and your personal situation may change and you need to be sure where you're going before changing your mother's house.

I wouldn't add on unless you were certain you were staying. In the short term, these types of additions are generally more costly and disruptive than the resultant value of the property when you are done.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts...my mom, though 72, works out at the gym 6x a week and still works FT, so *right now* stairs are not an issue. Of course, this can change at a moment's notice.

Unfortunately, can't change or add to the footprint - the lot is only 50x100 so up is the only option...

And yes, we are NOT zoned for a two family - however, there would not be a real separate entrance (just a door off the stairs) it wouldn't be a major issue. We would remove the door and kitchen if needed when we sold.

We were discussing this last night, and I think if we were to stay, the most prudent thing would be to just build up, and as Lyfia said, just put two bedrooms, a bath and an open loft type area and we can use it as our space, and my mom can stay downstairs. We'll share the kitchen. We're going to contact a real estate agent this week and see what they think...

Unfortunately, the decision to stay or move has not been an easy one (we've honestly been dealing with it for over three years already, we are pathetic, I swear). We missed the boom, and now of course, I want to move more than ever. I guess a lot hinges on what an agent would tell us - if we would not make the money back and then some, I would hesitate to do it. We spent about $100K in 2006 on the renovations, but my parents bought it for $78K and had never done a thing to it. Similar homes in the area that are NOT renovated have sold for the high $700s in the last year.

I agree with lucy and brewbeer. This is not a good time to sell -- or buy! The market is too unsettled. Heck, the whole economy is unsettled.

BTW, isn't this your *mother's* house, and her decision? You and your longtime fiance just live there?

The NYC area hasn't had the huge drop that other parts of the nation have. At least in my Queens neighborhood (apt. bldg, not detached homes w/ lawns), 3br apts are selling for the same price they sold in the last 3 years.

Also, many homes sold in some of the more suburban-looking parts of NYC are torn down. So only build if you think you're going to stay.

This might not be a bad time to sell and move away--you could sell for a probably steady price, and buy somewhere a little farther out where prices have dropped a teeny bit more. Or, totally relocate, w/ a pretty substantial cushion (you could buy two nice homes for cash, no mortgage, in Kansas City).

But I think it comes down to: Where do you want to actually LIVE?

Where do you want to commute from? buy groceries? drive to stores? visit relatives or friends from? (relatives of mine moved from Queens, not far from friends and extended family, to CT, presumably to be closer to the grandkids, but actually the same driving distance--but MUCH farther from friends, etc.; the husband is NOT happy)

That should guide you.

you're in a spot that lets you (and your mom) decide to live in the place and the style that you'd like. You'll never have more flexibility.

So first decide where you want to live.

Then figure out how to make the house help you with that.

I looked at your Flickr albums and will say that the kitchen & bathrooms look great.

I think asking a few agents is a good idea, but in the end, you also have to use your own judgment.

my mom, though 72, works out at the gym 6x a week and still works FT, so *right now* stairs are not an issue. Of course, this can change at a moment's notice.

You're right. My neighbor's lady friend in her 70's had a freak thing happen, now she can barely get out of the house. Thankfully she has a rancher. My neighbor has been fine and very active like your mom, he also had a freak thing happen. He was in a garage & fell. That was two years ago, it's slowed him down a lot. They both now have back problems that never bothered them until they had the accidents.

You mention that a lot of people build up. Is it possible that if you don't, your house will be more desirable to someone that can't do steps? Your gut is telling you to move & it's possible that your gut is right. You might want to start looking online to see if any houses on the market will suit your needs. If so, that might be your answer.

Do you have a garage? There are some people around here that are turning their garages into living spaces for their parents. Some leave the garage doors just in case the next person wants to use it as a garage again.

Good luck. I know it isn't an easy decision. We also toyed with the idea of adding on but decided not to because living in the house during construction would be the pits and it would not be worth it to do so in our area.

I don't know anything about NYC but... a house in our sub built an in-law sweet (family room, small kitchen and bath) -- kind of attached it to the back of the house. This was many years ago.

Last year they listed it at over $100,000 more than the comps in our neighborhood because of the additional square footage. It sat and sat, they reduced the price more and more and finally ended up pulling it off the market.

I think houses with in-law suites have a very limited market. Of course many times the kitchens and other rooms in the additions are more updated and look better than the original house!