Should we stay or sell?

[peachy94]

Sorry this I soooo long

I've posted a few times about issues with our house but me and OH are just going round in circles over wether we should move or not so I'm after some impartial advice. We bought a 3 bed semi 18 months ago that we thought would be a great step up from our 2 bed terrace for a good few years until we could afford our 'forever' family home. It was in seemingly great condition bar a few niggles, it needed the drive redoing and a new back door but that was about it. However since we have moved in its all gone to pot, the flat roof on the side extension started leaking so we got that fixed, roofer said the main roof would probably have one more winter in it then it would need replacing, the garden is clay full on boggy clay over the whole thing it may as well be a swap. The driveway is now completely knackered its basically just rubble and really needs redoing, still need a new back door and now the front one is playing up. We have damp patches all over the utility room to the point that plaster has fallen off the walls because its so wet and no one can work out where it's coming from. During storm 'brian' the window in our lounge started leaking. We would also like to knock through our kitchen and utility room to make a kitchen diner and get a new porch. OH (gas engineer) wants to re do all the pipework too. So we would likely end up taking most of the house back to brick, we have the money to do it all my issue is I don't want to spend thousands upon thousands on a house we don't see as a long term home, we can't extend it in anyway and the loft is to small to go up into its fine for us now but I worry in a few years we will be bursting out of it and what we spend on it won't be recouped. Property prices area we live in are currently flying up our house has just been valued at 25k more than we paid so we're debating just getting shot of it and finding a larger 3 bed semi with room to extend so we can grow into it, it would mean taking our mortgage out over a longer period but we are only 25 and 23 so that's not too daunting. OH is planning on going self employed at some point next year which means we need to either buy before he does so we can secure a mortgage or stay where we are and wait 5 years before we could think of moving again so he would have all his books in order to hopefully secure a mortgage. I don't want to over stretch ourselves but I also don't want to throw money at our house and it be a waste. We love where we live, the road, neighbours, the walk to school etc. We're just so confused, what would you do??

[Angryosaurus]

It sounds like you bought it at 'great condition' price, but would have to sell it at 'needs work' price. All the issues you mention would likely be picked up by a survey. If you love the area I think I'd stay put, fix the issues without overspending, and start saving for your forever home. Moving is expensive to do more than you absolutely need to!

[Pixiedust1973]

The amount it would cost you to move with estate agents fees & stamp duty, removals etc, you'd be lucky to break even on a straight swap tbh. Id stay put for a few years & save up if I were you.

[Dusktilldawn]

Personally I couldn't face doing all that work eg roof and pipes and knocking down walls while living in it. Been there, done it and it always takes way longer and costs way more than planned. I would get shot and move on.

[Chickencellar]

I'd stay fix the stuff the needs doing , the door and damp. I wouldn't bother with the kitchen diner use that money to move up the ladder.

[Beaumatrix]

Have you had 2nd opinion on the roof? That's quite costly and totally necessary if it really does need doing.
Also what happened with the drive? Can you get the people who did it back?

[makemyminduptime]

If you can afford it, I'd move now while you're more likely to get a mortgage. I wouldn't want to feel I'd outgrown the house in 2 years time and not have the option of moving because I couldn't get a mortgage.

However I'd only move if you're moving to a long term home as it is expensive and time consuming to move. Think about what you'll really need from a house over the next 10 years or so. Do you have children or might have them in the future? Is a 3 bed big enough? What if the 3rd bedroom is small as it often is in a 3 bed semi? We're in a reasonable sized 3 bed semi and are really running out of space now that baby number 2 is on the way.

[LIZS]

It doesn't all need doing at once though. Start with the damp and leaks, as that will cause it to deteriorate. If the drive and door needed doing when you bought what has stopped you until now? Do you have savings to cover it? Agree you won't get any profit out of it if you sold now and the problems will be evident. Doing improvements like the knock through and replumb are for once the other jobs are done.

[peachy94]

We got it for a good price to be fair, it would cost us around 7k to move. I know the damp and roof would be picked up by the survey but we have wriggle room to drop the price if they asked for money off because of it or we could get the roof done before selling as we've got a mates rates quote. We trust the roofer that said it needs doing he took OH up there and showed him the problems. The driveway is currently just a concrete slab that's just broken up with use I imagine it had been done a good while ago. We have no idea what to do about the damp as we can't work out where it's coming from. Damp guy said no rising damp, OH has had all the floor up upstairs to look for leaky pipes and can't find anything so I don't know what we do now. We haven't done the drive and the doors because the money we had for that got used on the flat roof and then I found out i was pregnant so the house took a back seat to that. We would have to go for another 3 bed as there's hardly any 4 beds near us and the ones that do come up are way out of our price range. We have a 4 year old and 6 month old but if we could get a larger 3 bed the plan would be to put a double extension on it and make it a 4 bed. My worry about the kitchen is that it looks fine for now but if we come to sell in 5 years it will be looking abit tired and dated and I'd rather get 5 years out of a new kitchen than do it before we sell or have it affect the selling price. The idea of doing all the extra work is so no other problems crop up out the blue. It is a lovely house but I think we have just fallen out of love with it, if we did the work to it it would be great but like makemyminduptime said I worry about outgrowing it but being stuck because we can't get a mortgage

[makemyminduptime]

I'd look carefully at the financial side of things and if you can afford to move then I'd be inclined to go for it, but only if you're moving somewhere that will suit the needs of your family for the medium to long term. How much would an extension cost and how would you pay for it? What would happen if you bought somewhere and then didn't get planning permission to do a double storey extension? Nobody knows what will happen to interest rates but they're low now and starting to slowly creep up so it's a good time to get a good fixed rate deal if you can.