WWYD? £20k extension or £40 / 50k and move.

[WAD]

I like our current house (Edwardian) but kitchen is tiny. For £20 k we could enlarge kitchen and add family / breakfast type room. Current house has large other rooms and 3 beds and is non-estate - area is not great - but not too bad either.

Or we could spend £40 - £50 k and move to a 4 bed detached new build on an estate.

WWYD?

What's the estate like? - for me both options sound good but it depends on how the location is of both.

Also can you afford that extra 40-50k? are there lots of those types of houses available, meaning that there's a glut and it would be hard to sell on - what happens if property prices drop?

If you can sell the house easily, I'd probably punt for the move.

We have been considering the same, although the cost of moving including the stamp duty and moving costs is larger. But we like where we live and tbh there isn't much out there we fancy. I am very much for extending and making our kitchen area larger and creating an additional room as well - seems a better plan for us at the moment.

Extend if you like the rest of your house. If you don't move

It's a dilemma isn't it? I do like the house. When house was built no doubt it was a very 'naice' area but you know how times move on and areas become a bit dog-eared. That's what happened to the road we live on. Everyone moved out to the shiny new estates about 10 years ago and we are a tiny bit veering towards rental land. Not entirely, but I've noticed a few houses up the road being snapped up by developers and refurbished (all character destroyed in process )

The thing is, it would probably cost about £20k to move - so in some respects we might as well spend up to that amount to improve and stay, and hopefully make a profit if and when we decided to move in the future.

We would not be in 'best house in worst road' scenario either as other neighbours have done much grander extensions.

Estate is a 'meh' - nothing special. Bit crammed in.

£20K is allot of extra extension -or glass over an outside space - or holiday etc#

WWYD then Raspberry?

Stay and look at the 'best' extensions - with £20k extra you could employ an architects and get something supurb - plus still have character and style - most newbuilds are souless and if the estate is meh - why move !

I see your point Raspberry, I'm just worried we might not get a return if we spent £40k on an extension - might be over-development.

I would stay and extend.
Building work is a pita but so is moving and estates are a bit overrated (IMHO only!).

Stay but 20k sounds quite low. How big would extension be? What would it include as presumably you'd need new kitchen as well?

How long do you intend to stay/ what are do you live in ??? How much garden do you have ??? Over investment is virtually irrelevent if you get 10 years out of the house and who knows what will happen to the area /house prices. saying that I live in a small welsh village and have had to resist the urge to rip the back of my bunglaow off to put a beautiful glass extension on as I knpw it would make the house difficul to sell around here :P

We have a big garden, and it's quiet at the back and not overlooked.

The extension would be rehashing a current lean-to and making it bigger and wider - and the new area will lead off a current family type dining / sitting room. Builder guy didn't seem think it was a big deal and I certainly wasn't going to give him other ideas! I was pleasantly surprised with £20 k but tried not to show it. Although the actual new part would not be massive, what with walls and wonky bits in the middle being dispensed with, the space gained would be comfortable.

The estate is very new, very bland. I personally don't really like estates. But sometimes I just go into a show home and everything is new and straight lines etc - and sometimes the appeal of an older property pales (just a bit).

The problem with new houses is that they are only like that for a very short time...then you have a 10 or 20 year old house which just looks crap and nobody wants.

I have seen so many like that while house hunting.

If it seems low I would

1. Get the quote in detail and in writing
2. Get at least 2 other quotes
3. Pay for a few hours with an architect

New builds cost over the odds for what you get, and the amount you'd spend on stamp duty is just money down the drain. I'd extend.

Raspberry - by 'architect' do you mean someone who draws plans, or a 'real' architect? All the ('real') architects I've contacted are not interested unless the job is about £100k and in a posh area.

Discrete- yes that's true, very good point. There's nothing worse than a tatty 15 year old dated 'new' estate house. There are lots of mock tudor 90s offerings around here which I wouldn't consider, so I feel for anyone trying to sell one!

I'm sounding like my mother here - but they don't build them like they used to. I love the cornicing, the doors, the door frames in our current house. They are 100 years old FGS - and still look good. And it makes me so sad when tradespeople want to rip them out and replace with tat.

It seems like I am talking myself into staying - but just hope the area doesn't go further downhill.

I'm surprised at architects turning down a commision at the moment even if ifs just a few hours conslutation and not a project managed job. What area are you and are you talking standard brick or have you looked at glass at all ??www.glassdesignandbuild.co.uk/
Thease guys are fab if you like somthing a bit more modern but inkeeping

I'd look at other options. New builds tend to have very small rooms and be on tiny plots - even 4 beds. Investing money in a property when you're not sure how the area's changing is risky too.

Could you find out about recent sales in your area? How are the current prices? Are the 'refurbished' properties being let or sold? Is there another area you'd rather be in?

And if the properties being sold are being 'refurbished', what would your property be worth without the extension? As you might not get your money back on the cost of an extension if developers are the major buyers ATM and they have different plans for how to maximise their investment.

I'd plan a Saturday of house viewing - including in your current area - to see what you'd be up against if you sold as well as what you could get for your money.

Thanks for website raspberryroop - but not sure I want that much glass. Think a traditional roof peppered with veluxes (veli?!) may be better for our house.

Narked - prices are at rock bottom. Mixture of rentals and sales for the refurbished houses - it's a real mixed bag. I would be sorry if the area went really 'rental' though - I don't mean to be snobby and sorry if it sounds that way - but when a house is carved into flats and let to youths, the area just feels different and is less family orientated.

you sound like you've already made you mind up

Narked, I know where you;'re coming from but I'm fairly confident we would get our money back. People are still buying the properties which have had major work done on them - and these are selling for more than a new 5 bed on an estate - a combination of the character, non-estate-ness an the space seems to be attractive.

whiteyellow - yes this thread has helped enormously!