done before but any regrets extending or wish you'd moved?

[littlemetalcar]

hi, this probably done to death!

we have a lovely average semi with 4 bedroom, 2 bathrooms and a 60ft garden, no utility and small kitchen diner. its in a popular area beside a oversubscribed and sought after school.

its quiet, no parking issues and we sold it in a week but the sale fell apart a few months ago because we couldn't find a house we wanted to buy in our price range.

we like our house (very easy location, piece of piss for school drop off which will be a thing for the next 9 years of primary school) but both of us wish we had a detached! we dont have any neighbour issues but of course when they sell, that could all change.

annoyingly, we require a specific area and the right houses arent coming up and if they are they are a utility room and a 2x 2.5 meter study larger than our current house with crap miniature gardens but are a whopping £150,000 more than house.

we can afford up to £200,000 more than our current house but nothing good has come up. we dont want the moon on a stick but we would want a better house than we currently have!!

we are contemplating an extension even though we dont love our house. im guessing an extension with fees and final fitting of kitchen and decorating/flooring would be about £80,000.

we'd have more money for newer fancier cars and we'd be able to save more for pensions, enjoy an extra couple of decent snow and sun holidays and have more more for the children when they get older.

its just annoying though, as i see friends move on wards and upwards property wise and wonder why we haven't been able to do the same.

am i being impatient?

should we wait another year before extending or re-marketing again?

i hope this post doesnt come across as a bit wanky.

any thoughts would be appreciated as in real life, everyone is on the fence!

[PlaiceMarking]

With the extension done would you have the rooms/space you want? And would the garden still be bigger than the detached houses in your price range? If yes to both of those then I would extend and stay put.

However get a good architect round for a chat about what is actually possible with your house (if you've not done so already) before you make any decisions as what you can or can't do might make it easier to decide.

[namechangedtoday15]

I'm guessing you're in a fairly high price bracket particularly if you're considering an extra £200k on your mortgage. I would do a thorough analysis of costs - cost of selling, moving, "lost" costs on buying - eg mortgage application fee & valuation, stamp duty, solicitor costs. I'm guessing that's a big chunk of your extension before you even factor in the extra month in month costs?

I also think detached isn't worth moving for, if you're losing some of the advantages you have with your current house (ease of school run, good neighbours currently). It sounds too like you're a little concerned about keeping up with the Jones' and if you can afford a bigger house, you should move.

Those aren't great reasons to move but I LOVE my house and I get an awful lot of grounding (sorry if that sounds twee!) knowing we'll be here until at least the children have finished school. Its not detached, but we have amazing neighbours, all the space we need (obviously I'm sure we'd expand into a bigger house if we had chance!!) but location etc all work for us.

Just do those calcs and think whether its worth it. Only you can make the decision!

[littlemetalcar]

stamp duty, estate agent and solicitors would be aprox £18,000 - 20,000

you've made a very good point about some of the major advantages we'd lose: parking is largely w/o much of an issue, we have a large garden which means a lot to us and we have a south easterly / south aspect to the rear and side of our house which warms up the back of the house beautifully and makes its very bright for a large part of the day.

when looking at houses, i found it annoying that we couldn't get this sort of aspect, few s.e and south properties about in the area we want.

if we extended, we'd get the extra reception room (new kitchen extension keeping original dining and living area, dining room and living room) and the the utility room that i really want, so yes, if we extended, i get everything i want.

just before i posted this afternoon, i spoke to an actual design technologist and he looked at our house on google satellite and thought we had a good amount of space to extend the rear.

thanks for replies

[PlaiceMarking]

Sounds like staying might be the best all round? If soundproofing between the next house isn't very good you could consider improving that as well?

[littlemetalcar]

thanks plaice, its a great spot we have but i wonder if i'll always regret not pushing us harder and i do feel a sense of keeping up with the jones as we are in a fairly affluent area but one of the smaller/ less grand houses. my mum and dad say they regret not making a move which is playing on my mind.

[littlemetalcar]

.

[CakeThat]

dont forget that if you move you'll probably still want to spend money on the new house to get it how you want it. In your position I'd extend, it will probably add value to your house so you could still move upwards in future if you still wanted to.

[johnd2]

"its just annoying though, as i see friends move on wards and upwards property wise and wonder why we haven't been able to do the same. "
Don't worry about other people, do what's best for yourself. Otherwise you'll forever be in competition! Personally if it's a good area with nice neighbours it's not worth losing, but I know extensions can be a nightmare too. Good luck!

[namechangedtoday15]

Just one other point - if house prices are increasing more than your mortgage rate then financially it might be worthwhile. I know its a simplistic way of looking at it, but a 5% increase on a £400k house is £20k a year, a 5% increase on a £200k house is £10k a year. Your mortgage wouldn't be double however. If you can afford a bigger house you'll have a bigger capital asset when your mortgage ends.

[conkerpods]

My parents moved every few years and 'upgraded' but times have changed.
I bought my current house Pre children,12 years ago.Because of the cost of property now we will never be able to upgrade!We are doing a loft conversion as it's cheaper than buying a bigger house. We're in London so well aware we could buy a massive house if we ever move away,unfortunately I can only work in London!
Good luck with your search.

[mousehouse123]

There's likely to be some compromise on anywhere else you buy. I'd have a really good look at making your house a bit special/stand out by designing a lovely addition, but also making a space which works really well as a family home. I don't think I'd give up the parking and decent aspect/size garden lightly.