To want to move to an identical house?

[isthisbeyoncecrazy]

Name changed as potentially outing.

Love my current house but it's a bit short of space. A neighbour is selling their house, which is identical in layout.

The only major differences is that theirs is a semi, we're mid terrace. Theirs has a fancy garden office thing which would cost about £10k if we were to buy the same. Theirs has a garage.

It could potentially be a forever home with that bit of extra space. We really like the estate, near DC school, close to work etc. BUT. There's a price difference of about £30k between theirs and ours (estimated as we haven't had a valuation, but going on houses like ours which have sold, ie terrace with no garage).

Would we be mad to consider this plus all the estate agent, legal fees just for a garage and a home office, albeit on an estate we know and love?!

Do you really need the garage? Could you just use twenty grand and make the fanciest home office garden thing?

If you do need the garage to be happy go for it if it will be your forever home

If you have the money and love the area then yes go for it.I say. More space and gages the chance of getting awful new neighbours later down the line. And you can choose your neighbours Haha. If you definitely need more space that is.. would be a right pain to get it and then think ah actually we coUldale have managed fine !

Is it the same size internally or are all the rooms a bit bigger? If it's not noticeably bigger inside I probably wouldn't unless as you say, I was sure I definitely wanted to stay on that estate . Maybe look and see what else is available for same price and that will tell you if it's worth it

To go from a mid terrace to a semi and the extra space is a big plus.
The people over the road to me did similar.
They moved to another house in the next street. Pretty much identical house but with a garage and detached.
Because they made a bit of money on their house it meant that their mortgage payments only went up by about £20.

30k sounds reasonable price difference. Semi, garden room, garage all worth it

Oh I'm quite surprised by these replies!

The house is IDENTICAL in layout, but some things are a little different - different flooring, different colour kitchen doors. The only two slight negatives - their garden is a little smaller and I do like our kitchen cupboards a bit better. Not a huge deal though.

We have looked around elsewhere but for the same money the other houses we've found would all mean losing something we like having if that makes sense. Eg different town, no ensuite, no downstairs loo.

The garage/summer house would allow us to free up our spare room, and would thus mean we could have a child in the future if we wanted without having to move.

I just wasn't sure if £30k plus legal fees, stamp duty etc was crazy for that bit of extra space. On the flip side, we cannot really extend ours or build a garage so we would need to move anyway for the extra room.

Depends where you live. If you live in an expensive area stamp duty and estate agents fees cost a fortune. If you are in a cheap area they are less so it might be worth it.

is their garden smaller because of the garage and summer house?

I would be wary tbh....£30k+ moving cost/fees/redecoration would get you a lovely summerhouse of your own in your own garden, so really teh only benefit is the garage.

For that price can you not extend if you have a bigger garden?

Can you extend up and add a summer house?

If you can comfortably afford it and you're 100% sure this will be the forever home then I'd probably do it. If you would be stretching your finances and might move again anyway then I'd say no. Essentially with ,moving costs solicitors fees stamp duty you'd be paying around 40k + interest for a slightly bigger house. Over the course of 40 years that's not a crazy amount but for 5-10 years it's very steep!.

Seems a bit daft to spend 30k plus and go through all that upheaval when the main thing you want it for would cost you 10k, and you have the space for it.

It would be significantly cheaper to do the work yourselves especially if you have a bigger garden, then find a garage nearby to rent maybe.

That said, I spent years loving in flats and latterly 2 mid terrace properties and that experience was enough to mean my main criteria when moving was that we went for a detached if we could manage it. I absolutely hate having to worry about baby noise travelling and detest hearing other people's tvs late at night, so on that basis I'd look at moving. But I'd want to be gaining more of u was effectively throwing away stamp duty

I know a lot of people are saying that you can extend etc for that money, which is true, however you can never make the house anything other than mid terrace and you could never have a garage.

I would go a see a mortgage advisor and find out what it would add to your mortgage.

We live mid terrace. I cannot wait to move so we can have direct side access and a garage for kids bikes etc. That would be enough to make me consider it seriously.

When you say identical do you mean they have precisely the same square meters? That makes no sense if so. Don’t even think about the flooretc, that’s buttons to change in the grand scheme.

If however you could convert the garage into house space or add further space with extension ( can you do this with your current home?) then possibly it’s a good idea.

I'd spend the money on extending where you are if the square footage is the same.

Yes precisely the same layout in the house, exactly the same square metres.

Neither theirs nor ours could be extended outwards. Could possibly use their garage as extra house space, as it is attached to the house. Tried to attach the floor plan for the other house but the app doesn't want to let me attach it for some reason.

Re extending upwards, we were of the understanding that it's hard to do loft conversions in a mid terrace new build. Could be worth looking into it again?

Although we could build a garden office for £10k or so, we obviously wouldn't get the garage.

In terms of being mid-terrace, it doesn't really bother us. The houses are pretty soundproof, we don't really ever hear the neighbours.

Could try a cheeky offer? The valuation tho reflects the extra benefits tho, so you are trading up.

Here’s the floor plan.

Nothing to stop you swapping the kitchen doors round.

If you think the garage is worth £20k and you can afford it then go for it.

If the garage is attached maybe you could use it as a playroom / hangout space for the kids to free up space in the main part of the house?

I'd offer lower to begin with as obviously there's other costs involved with moving as you know.

Would a three bed definitely be “future proof” enough? I’d worry that wasn’t a forever home as you mention having a dc and not needing to move (suggesting you don’t have DC at the mo?), but most people I know end up having 2 or 3 DC, at which point the house is a bit cramped for you. Could you do a loft conversion if you needed to? Do either of you need a particular size home office?