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?

It's a risk to stay then, but you obviously love your house. If I were you I'd take a look around to see if I could afford a similar but larger house in the same/slightly nicer area. If nothing works for you, I'd investigate how to add the most value with an extension. Get your home valued and research what would add the most value. A larger kitchen is great, but eg putting in a downstairs loo might add more value.

Or it might be worth going 2 storey for the increased value?

A small house with a bit glued on is never as nice, or worth as much, as a house built bigger.

Totally disagree. Edwardian houses will have good ceiling height and generous room sizes apart from the kitchen. They have usually been built on a good sized plot. It means you can extend the kitchen or go double storey and extend the kitchen and add a bedroom and still leave a good sized garden. New builds often don't bother with even a kitchen-diner anymore and expect you to squish a table into the living room. The rooms are smaller, the ceilings are lower and you'll often find that a new build a four bed has a lot less square footage than an older 3 bed. And the gardens can be tiny.

We have a 7yo new build. It looked fab when we first moved in.

7y later - we now realise that it is just cheap fixtures and fittings they use and put in. We've always had new builds and tbh this is a very common issue, bar our apartment. Both new build houses have needed sorting in a relatively short time.

The bathrooms need changing (just been getting the quote and waiting on installation quote today!).
We have already had our bedroom refitted.
The walls have been repainted at least 1-2 times and are ready to be done again.
We could do with new flooring on the ground floor.
The kitchen could do with changing - part of what I am planning for if we extend next year.
All the internal doors really need changing tbh although seems so much money for such a boring set of items!
There are other niggly bits ready to be sorted too.

Now I do love new builds - but when it comes to having to do work on them they are not really much better in terms of updating costs after the first initially years.

We're in a Victorian terrace and had a similar dilemma, although I am sufficiently anti new build estates for my alternative to be to spend significantly more to get another but bigger period property.

We're midway through extending the kitchen to add a breakfast room area at the back. Building costs will be about £19 k but then we have to buy a new kitchen on top of that so hoping total costs will be about £26k.

The kitchen would have needed doing in order to sell it so I figured I might as well improve so I'm happy to live there for the next 2 or 3 years and when I come to sell hopefully the added space and downstairs loo will distinguish my house from all the rest on the street and make it easier to sell.

While house prices aren't really going anywhere I figure I'm not losing out on climbing up the ladder and if they start going up then at least my house will be ready to go quickly.

NarkedRaspberry

You appear to be comparing an Edwardian house having a large garden, with a modern house having a small garden.

That is not the comparison I made.

I think the Edwardian house will always be the better bet. Yes, at the moment the area is a bit dog-eared and the new estates are shiny.
But in ten years time the estate will be tired and a bit worn out and the Edwardian houses will still be Edwardian houses.

I would look at an extension.

What Behind said, unless....

Do school catchment areas have any bearing on your decision?

OK then

A small Edwardian house with a bit glued on is never as nice, or worth as much, as an Edwardian house built bigger.

Dont do it, dont move, I moved from an Edwardian into a souless new build.

New builds do not stand the test of time and I miss my old house every single day.

We have dented walls, etc, and are looking at spending 20k ripping out the whole of downstairs and remodelling, putting in new walls, etc.

I fear my response to your OP was skewed by my love of period properties.
We decided against extending our small Victorian semi in a dog-eared road.
We bought a larger 1950's semi in a more desirable area.
I miss my Victorian house. I miss the dog-eared road. I miss the character and features of my old little house.

I've got a large Edwardian house for sale, do you want to buy it?

narked is right, we need bathroom, kitchen etc, my house is 10 years old.

Whoever said that the ceiling height in Edwardian houses is good, and the rooms are large (apart from the kitchen) was spot on. Our house is good (space wise) apart from the kitchen. Kitchen is small. Kitchens were usually small in Edwardian homes afaik...?

Piglet - how is your kitchen size -wise?

18'8" x 10'4"

original kitchen having been knocked through to absorb old scullery, integal housekeeper's WC and integral coal store.

Larder is extra.

oh and also to absorb original back hall to tradesman's entrance

It would very unusual to spend £20k on alterations or improvements which would result in an increase in the value of the property of £20k. As you have suggested - the location is usually the more important factor and if it is declining then you may waste your money.

A general 'rule of thumb' is that adding a room or something which did not exist before (e.g. en suite, central heating) provides the better return but simply adding space rarely increases value by more than 1/4 to 1/3 of the cost of the work.

Obviously there are exceptions and also depends on locality i.e. London / south east would be more advantageous.

As an aside I'm surprised you can't find an architect who is interested. As I have said on several threads I usually offer an hour free to discuss ideas and explore options and I'm not alone in this.

(Not an advert BTW) :)

WAD could I do the gentlest of hijacks and ask whether you put in the lean-to yourselves? (I'm assuming this is in the side return?)

We're just about to buy a Victorian house which is otherwise fantastic but silly small pokey kitchen. At some point in the future we'd like to do a side return extension but that's probably 10 years down the line. In the short term we'd like to do a lean-to as a utility room and storage area to take the pressure off the kitchen but don't really know what type of tradesman to use (local polish building firm?), how much it's likely to cost, and whether we need to specify it or a builder will know what to do.

a single storey extenson will need as much foundation as a full-height one (as you may want to go up later) unless you go for a conservatory.

Try to get it designed so you can add an extra upstairs room and a proper hipped roof when funds allow.

It would be preferable to do it all in one go.

If you don't tell the builder what you want he will guess and it will be your fault.

We extended and one wonderful thing is that I got to design the kitchen I had been dreaming about for a decade. We spent about 20k all in, and that included building (only 9.5m2), moving doorways, removing walls, new boiler, new kitchen, flooring, new paving round the side return. I did shop around to save as much as possible at every stage but I am just sooo pleased with the result because it is exactly what I wanted. And everyone comments on how lovely the space feels.

Looking at moving now, I'm always put off by the fact I can't see anything like as nice as we've got - bar parking issues. Do you think your 20k spend would resolve all the little and large niggles you have with the house? Are you excited about the changes you can make? Or is a new start more exciting?

Thanks all for further comments.

Pendeen - we would be adding a new room - as well as making the kitchen larger - and would also add another w/c. I am also not expecting a return in the short term - but over the time we would stay, I'm guessing the improvements might 'assist' the general (we hope - at some point!) rise in the market.

ecuse - no, the lean to is original - it is how the kitchen part was designed. Sorry I can't advise you there..

Piglet - yes good point and I'd already planned to get full-height foundations laid in case we wanted to add another storey at some point. We are planning to tell the builder what we want, bit dangerous leaving them to 'guess'!

Gentleness - yes I think all niggles would be resolved. I have decided I just love the house. OK the area is not perfect - but then is anywhere absolutely perfect I wonder - unless we are talking £2million?

This house has such a nice feel to it. Even when we've been away and stayed with friends in much larger houses, I still feel happy coming back. When we look around other houses (new and not so new) and get home we just walk in - look at each other and say 'we are mad - this is miles better!'

It's just that sometimes the allure of the new and the modern and the 'no work involved' seems tempting. But I think on balance I would rather stay. We could of course move to another larger older house - but when I think ours could be good for £20 it doesn't seem worth the hassle.

*£20k...!

'is anywhere absolutely perfect I wonder - unless we are talking £2million?'

Anywhere is only a house sale away from unbearable if you get bad neighbours moving in.

Having lived in a few new builds, I HATE them with a passion! Sure, they look all sparkly and new - for about 5 minutes. Then things like curtain rods, bathroom shelves and even radiators start falling off the walls, paint comes off the first time you try and clean the walls, you notice that the places where pipes are boxed in are crooked, cupboards are to shallow in depth for proper plates, rooms are tiny, gardens are tiny and the estates are soulless and every street identical. When we eventuallybuy, it will be a period home. Period.