A number of things have happened during this unprecedented time:

People have had more time to spend together. They’ve also spent that time at home. 

All that time together has not necessarily helped some relationships. Perhaps not surprisingly, the divorce rate is skyrocketing in countries like China, and now it’s been reported that, “Cooped-up New Yorkers are flooding lawyer phone lines with divorce inquiries — with an avalanche of filings expected once the courts re-open,” said the New York Post.

But it’s our relationship with our homes that may be the most stressed. A home may function perfectly fine when you’re only there a few hours a day, but this quarantine has shined a light on many a flaw. Here’s how to tell if you’re just done or if your relationship with your house can recover.

It’s not something a renovation can fix

There are some floor plans that just can’t get with the times. Not without a tremendous financial commitment, anyway. If fixing up your home to get it to modern standards or even make it more livable is impossible or unadvised, it may just be time to move on. 

You have no appetite for a renovation

Perhaps your home is a good candidate for a makeover but you just can’t bear to live through it. If you’ve been stuck in a house you don’t love or that no longer works for you, it’s OK to say goodbye and move on to something that better suits your family’s needs—without the guilt.

You’re not crazy about your neighborhood either

You know what they say: location, location, location. We’ll put up with a lot in our home to be in the right spot, close to work and in a good school district, perhaps. But maybe that spot doesn’t work for you anymore. Do schools still matter or are your kids older now? Is your commute no longer an issue? Or maybe the location has taken a turn in a direction you don’t love. When you’re no longer tied to a specific neighborhood, the possibilities are endless.  

It’s just too small

It can be easy to say that we’ll return to normalcy at some point, but no one really knows what that will look like. If the quarantine has made your small space even more uncomfortable, and there isn’t an easy/affordable way to add more space, you might want to consider moving along. 

It’s just too big

Have you been noticing that everyone is gravitating to the same few rooms during this time? One thing the quarantine is teaching us is just what we need in terms of space. Maybe that big, expensive house isn’t what you needed after all. Time to downsize? Could be.

It’s too old

We all love a heritage home. The architecture. The charm. The…100-year-old everything. You may have had visions of making some modern edits to the home when you bought it, and you probably also underestimated just how many edits you’d have to make or how many things would go wrong—or how much it would cost—along the way. 

If the emotional and financial toll of living in a home that is just too much of a project is getting to you, think new construction. Will you get the same character? Likely no. But you will get a house that’s brand new in every way and a warranty to boot.