advise me!!!

[advisemewisely]

i'm going round in circles.
we have a small 3 bed mid terrace, its worth 220k, mortgage is 40k.
where we live we cant buy anything bigger unless we spend 260k at least.
we have been thinking about spending 18k on a conservatory, some extra space, lots of light,( which an extension wont give us).our garden is big enough to loose the space from.
so, what do i do???
up our mortgage another 40k to get a house that is bigger than ours, but not massively. or spend just under 20k and add the space to our current house?

I'd go with the extension. Never move house unless you absolutely have to - or enjoy lots of stress! I wonder if you factored in your legal fees when thinking about selling and buying?

even if the extension is a conservatory? not a full brick extension?
cause our house is mid terrace there would be far too much light loss from having a real extension.

We inherited a conservatory on the last house. Hated it.

It was off the dining room and made the dining room so dark despite the number of windows in the conservatory. It also made the dining room a through room.

It was too hot in summer despite putting foils in the roof and too cold in winter despite a massive double radiator. We had to use an electric heater in there as it was the children's playroom.

You can't watch TV in there because it is too bright, did I mention that I hated it?

Obviously moving is stressful, but so is having building work done and spending money on what can be a room that you may not use much. Which way does your back garden face?

We moved 2 1/2 years ago to get a bigger house is a different area. No regrets at all.

*is? I meant in a different area

erm, sun rises in the garden. well not IN the garden, but thats the way the house faces. at about 4 it goes over the house, so the conservatory would be in the shade.

If it were me I'd go for more of an orangery than a conservatory. Makes it more of a useable room but without taking too much of the light away.
Also, take a look at Pilkington K glass - it's insulated to ensure you don't get too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter...more expensive but I think you save it on your bills over time...

You could think more in terms of a 'garden room' - nice big bright windows but more of a permanent brick structure which would be quite versatile and add value.

yup looking at pilkinton glass, underfloor heating.
the room would only have 2 sides of glass, as the 3rd side would be against our neighbours extension, and the 4th against our house.

I would get some advice from a few estate agents in your area as to how much value a conservatory is likely to add - I would be very surprised if it were anything like £20k tbh. That said, it really depends whether your house would have what you need if you do extend - if you'd need to move anyway in a couple of years it may be better to move.

You also have a very small mortgage compared to property value so you may find that you can stretch yourselves to something which offers you the space you really need.

We have what is technically an orangery - brick wall up to window level, windows all round and a proper tiled pointy roof with 2 vvelux windows. We use it as a dining room/quiet place to sit and read and it is very useful - more so than standard conservatory.

well, just had an agent round.
he thinks we could get 235 pretty easily. but in this area no more than 245.
he also said that in our area we couldnt get the next step up in property without spending 300.
so now what!!!!

Can you afford to up your mortgage?
Also how secure are your incomes?
Surely that is the starting point.
If you can't/don't want to borrow more you are stuck with improvements to your house.

If you want to improve and up the value of your house you would probably need to add a bedroom. Could you do the loft? You might only want extra living space but most other people want bedrooms. If you did a loft and juggled the bedrooms to.put an extra living room on the first floor at the front of the house could that work for you? It is a fairly common arrangement. The work would cost more but the agent will be able to tell you how much more it might sell for.

Conservatories put me off buying houses. I don't see them as extra space but as a cost - to demolish them!

we can afford to up the mortgage enough to cover the cost of the conswertatory, we already make overpayments, and that amount would cover the outgoing so we would see no difference in our situation each month.
we cant go up. the lofts are too small.
incomes as are secure as anyones are really.there is no chance of adding another bedroom, but in our house we spend more time downstairs anyway, bedrooms are more for sleep than anything else.
if we put a conservatory on and it means we can stay here for another 5 yrs it would be money spent well.
3 houses aroun here have just sold for 220, 225 and 236( next road, slighlt bigger house, off street parking, semi not terraced). none in as good condition as ours. regardless of what we did this house wont go over 245, due to the stamp duty.
but with a con we would be looking at as close to 245 as possible.

DH and I hate conservatories. We refused to even bother looking at houses with them. As tricot says, it's just a cost to have them removed. I wouldn't be certain that one would really add value to a house. If nothing else, they so often create a horrible, dark internal room that functions more as a corridor than a room.

I wouldn't necessarily believe an EA who says you'll need at least £300k to buy something bigger. They'd like you to need that much, but you may find that you can get something for much less than that.

When we first moved to this area (2 years ago), an EA told us that 3 bed semis go for about £300k and extended 4 bed semis go for £350k+ (and that agent still price them that way, but they never sell/go for considerably under asking). That's a good £100k away from reality, and we just bought a 4 bed for £220k. It needs a bit of work, but no more than the over-valued 3 beds that don't sell round here.

What do you want the extra space for - kitchen? Playroom? Study? Is it feasible to consider and outside room/summer house type thing. May cost less, impact less on the light in the house and potentially you could take it with you if/when you move. There is a thread on them somewhere on here.

Friends of ours build a "cube" a beautiful study in the corner of their garden. Yes a glorified (heated and insulated) square shed painted in F&B. But looked great and added the much needed downstairs space they needed without vast ££££

You need to think about reselling. I wouldn't l

Sorry - I wouldn't look at a house with a modern conservatory, for the reasons mentioned earlier.

interesting to see lots of other conservatory haters on here, I thought DH and I were the only ones, as the estate agents all look at us as if we're mad when we tell them it would be the first thing to go!

looking at the local houses for sale, there is a massive gap, houses go for up to 245, then there is nothing until 275, and the 275 all needs a fair amount of work done. also then as its over 250 we would be looking at increased costs for stamp duty etc.
the house is open plan downstairs, so having a conservatory wont make a dark area, and what were looking at is only 2 sides of glass and 2 of wall, it shouldnt feel to much like a glass box.
i dont want to go down the route of a summer house type idea, i need somewhere the kids can do school work etc, and i dont like the thought of them having to sit alone and have to use the net without me being able to keep and an eye on them.

ive been having a look on rightmove this morning, at prices up to 300k, there are 4 houses in the town we live in with 4 bedrooms up for sale.
so to make it worth our while to move, and we wouldnt move unless we could get 4 rooms and a extra bathroom, we would have to spend atleast 300

Conservatories are pants.
I have I've in my new house and hate it.
It's basically a toy/junk room. Far too hot in summer and freezing in winter.
It won't go pre you loads of extra room.
You could have a single storey ext with sky if hts in the roof to let more light in or a garden room...but make sure it's got good hating...you will need it!
Underfloor hearing is ridiculously, expensive to in stall and run IMO.
if you can afford it and are prepared for some stress then move to a larger house.....
(I have dine both btw!)

300 is asking price op, not thepricenyou pay!

If the asking prices are £275k, those that actually sell may very well be going for under the stamp duty threshold (or not selling at all). If the market where you are is anything like here, most of the houses will be on for ludicrously high asking prices. If you monitor rightmove, you'll probably notice that the same houses stay on for months, even years. And many of the houses that do go sold STC come back onto the market very quickly, as the banks won't agree a mortgage on the prices agreed.

However, it could be a very long time before you could find anything that's realistically priced and suits your requirements. It took us well over a year to find something to buy. And we were/still are (until we do the necessary work on the new house) renting, so there were no added complications of trying to sell something. Trying to both sell and buy could be more of a nightmare than you imagine.

That said, I still wouldn't want a conservatory under any circumstances. But it's you that'll be living in the house, not me.

i know its the asking price, but there is only a certain amount people will be willing to take as a reduction.
and it would still mean a much bigger mortgage for us.
at the moment if we sold we would walk away with 180k clear.
then we would have to add 100k mortgage,to cover purchase and fees etc, which would mean far higher payments for us.
we have kept a look out for about a yr to see what has been on the market, we seem to live in the cheapest area in our borough, although its nice and has good access to morotways, shops schools etc.

a single story extension would make the middle of the house much darker, we are mid terrace so we have no light from the sides, just the front and back.
we would keep the layout as it is now. its a through lounge dining room, then the conservatory would be a 2nd sitting room / study, ( 2 kids the age that they need more homework time)

the only other thing i can think would work without adding alot to the mortgage, is moving away. but thats an upheaval for school, work etc.

looking at properties is scary, how do some houses ever sell.
do people actually look at the agents pictures??