Would you bother extending the house in our shoes?

[houwseevryweekend]

DH and I bought a house a few months back with a view to adding a loft conversion and replacing lean-to conservatory with single storey extension next year. It's small by 3 bed standards around us (suburban London) - 84sqm but a lovely garden,

1. House is 1930s 3 bed end terrace, living room, dining room and 1 bathroom upstairs.
2. 2 double bedrooms, 1 box room which can fit a single bed and desk/chair, side table.
3. Loft conversion would take out most of the box room for stairs but give us a double bedroom and bathroom.
4. 3X3 Lean to conservatory is timber and insulated PVC roof but a comfortable temperature in summer (east facing) and connected to the heat supply for Winter with a radiator. It's actually a nice space as is - used as a 2nd sitting room/exercise room.
5. The kitchen is pretty small but semi open plan to dining room.

However, we are now questioning whether we should - but because everyone around us has done, wondering if we are missing a trick?

1. DH and I only want one DC - so we have the master, they get the second double room.
2. Box room is currently my office and guest room - I wfh full time, DH doesn't and is on shifts so we are rarely home at same time.
3. The only family who would visit is my mum from overseas, and she would get the guest room (I can work from the dining room or go into the office those weeks). DH's family all live locally, all our friends are local as well.
4. While the kitchen is small, it's got enough worktop space and cupboards and mod cons. DH and I never cook together or enjoy entertaining.
5. The only thing that bugs me is not having a downstairs WC but the house layout and soil pipe location means we can't fit one in, unless we did a full 6m single storey extension which would require re-siting the kitchen too. Don't know if this is enough reason to spend £££ and live with the mess for months? DH says we hardly entertain or have guests over and lived comfortably in 1 bed/1 bath for many years.
6. We are thinking to board the loft for storage instead? Also have 2 shed in the garden. We are quite minimalist - I always lived in flats so good at de-cluttering.

If you were us, would you bother? We kept money aside to do it when we bought but of course would rather spend it on other things! Are we going to struggle to sell without (can accept it will be much lower priced than others) - we aren't planning to move for at least 10 years as 150m from a great primary which was the reason we bought.

We want to try for a baby sometime next year so if we don't do it now, I know we'll never get around to it later!

the living space may not make much difference to you,
but paying £50k for an extension now might bring you £250k when you come to sell

I think the economics have changed since building prices went up so much. Your house sounds lovely to me and there is a lot to be said for being happy with what you have.

It comes down to whether it feels like a good use of the money or not. If it doesn't feel like a good use yet, don't do it yet.

Estate Agents will likely be happy to give a free valuation and advice on how much value the work would add.

It doesn't sound worth it to me. It's not just the money, it's all the upheaval. If you don't need a bigger bedroom for someone who lives there, it's not necessary, The downstairs loo (or lack of) is a mild inconvenience, Useful, but at what price?

You have only been there few months
Board lift cheaply and wait to see how it works and how you feel in 12xmonths

its a huge investment so take your time. Invest the money wisely so it doesn’t lose value. Get some quotes and maybe look at similar houses to see how they feel with a loft or kitchen extension. Find out how you live in the house. A baby /child can shrink a house by a surprising amount. They come with stuff, make a mess, need a space to eat etc and suddenly you have visitors, other kids and mums coming round etc. But you can def do a loft conversion later with a kid in the house. Almost all the work happens from the outside. I might consider a garden office if you have lots of outside space. They look attractive, aren’t very expensive and are a selling point.